A Matter of Choice
by Koala Kitty
Summary: Akane decides it's time to make some decisions about her life. . . and manages to blunder royally. Chapter 4, Happosai gives Ranma lessons on how to "please" a woman. [complete(accidentally deleted, repost)
1. Akane's Decision

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine at all.

In my brilliance, I edited the whole story. And then, in a supremely blonde moment, I friggin deleted it. So, here it is, accidentally deleted, and posted again. I'm so sorry for all of you who are about to get nine e-mails.

This is set right after the manga, by the way,

Chapter one

"Akane. . " Ranma whispered, standing over her. He was suicidal. He was insane. When she saw him, she was going to smash his skull with that damn hammer of hers. At the moment, he didn't much care.

"Would you wake up already?" he whispered, bending closer. He really didn't want to shake her. If she woke up and he had her by the shoulders she might...death does not begin to describe it. Or she might start up with that crying thing again. Since the cancelled wedding it seemed every time he looked at her, her eyes were sparkling with tears. It was killing him.

Akane slept on, oblivious to his outcries. Her hair spilled out around her head like a dark halo. She curled into a ball and murmered, dreaming. He took a deep breath. He was starting to lose his nerve, and if she didn't wake up soon he was going to have to go back to his bed. In defeat.

"Defeat" does not appear in the Saotome dictionary.

"Tendo Akane wake up!" he snarled. He laid a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. For a moment, nothing happened. He stepped back, surverying the situation. She was too far gone, too tired, too something. . . it would have to wait. He hung his head. His ponytail fell flat against his back and shadows gathered around him.

"What. . . Ranma? Is that you?" a sleepy voice asked. Ranma's head snapped up.

"I'm sorry, Akane, I have something to tell you," he said. She sat up and glared at him. She'd almost looked pretty when she was asleep, her face relaxing into smooth lines. Now, what he wanted most was to snarl at her and just walk away. She got angry so blasted easily...

"Do you have to tell me in the middle of the night?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. At least his skull was in one piece.

"Yeah, I do. Would you just be quiet and listen?" he asked, trying to keep the edge out of his voice and failing.

"What is it?" she snapped, her eyes flashing. He took a deep breath and reminded himself why he was in Akane's room in the middle of the night.

"Look, I've been thinking a lot these past few weeks. . ."

"Since the wedding," Akane said quietly. Ranma winced.

"Yeah. Since the wedding. I, ah, actually have done quite a bit of thinking about the wedding. I wouldn't mind it, you know, taking care of the dojo, but the way everyone reacted. . . I'm just so tired of living my life on a battlefield. Everytime I turn around I have to fight off some angry guy or some girl trying to haul me to an alter. Everybody is always trying to make all my decisions for me, I never get to make up my own mind on anything. Even when I was training, living on frogs and stolen food, life wasn't this hard. I think it's the . . . the normal parts that are the hardest. Like doing homework with you or like when we went to go see that movie or when we train in the dojo. . ."

"So I'm the hardest part of your life, huh?" she asked, her voice low and bitter.

"I didn't say that!" Ranma sputtered, then thought about it. Holy hells, he had. "I didn't mean it that way, I. . ." he started towards her, his hand outrstreatched. She wasn't even looking at him, in the shadows he couldn't even see her eyes. . .

"Ranma, what are you trying to tell me?" His arm fell to his side.

"I'm leaving on a training mission. Just to . . . get away from all of them. I wanted to know. . . I wanted to know if you . . ." she was going to kill him. Kasumi would be cleaning bits of his brains out of the curtains for weeks. "Would you like to come with me? I mean, not to cook or anything, just so I can have someone to train with. . . someone who isn't trying to kill me or..." he stopped, noticing the shaking of her shoulders.

"Idiot," she spat, her voice thick with emotion. A few tears dropped onto her childishly long nightgown, and Ranma moaned inwardly. Not tears again. He started towards her again, kneeling on the ground so he could see her face. She raised her chin defiantly, and glared at him with tears in her eyes. She was, he had to admit, pretty cute when she cried. Of course, that just made him feel worse. . .

"You don't want to come train with me?" he asked, realizing even as he said it that wasn't the reason for her tears. She hit him on the head.

"Idiot. Haven't you heard all those people gossiping about us at school? About the wedding? About why it was called off? What do you think they'll say if we dissapear for a few weeks together? Niether of us will have any reputation left," she said slowly, as if each word were difficult for her to pronounce. Ranma looked at her in astonishment. The thought had never entered his head. He let it roll around in there for a few moments, temporarily employing his cognitive faculties.

"They'll say we eloped," he admitted quietly, and wondered why he never thought of it. The idea had definate advantages, to be sure. Ucchan would stop making those moon eyes at him and act like a normal human being. Kodachi and Shampoo would probably just give up . . and he'd have a very good excuse to pound any guy who so much as looked at Akane. . . something his hands had always ached to do. . .

On the other hand, that would mean. . . being married to Akane. Married. His mind flinched away from the idea. It would mean giving in to his father's wishes without ever making his own descision. It would mean a lifetime of uncertainty as to the real motivations behind their marriage. . . Not to mention how mean and stubborn she could be. . .

"I give up," Ranma said out loud. Akane was staring at her folded hands, sitting rigidly on the bed.

"You should go to bed, Ranma. I don't know about you, but I'm tired," she told him. He started to get up, but then he looked at her face. Twin streams flowed on either cheek. He leaned in close to her, reaching up to touch them. That was all he wanted to do, really, was touch those strange tears, make sure they were real. They were. She looked down at him as he brushed them from her face. A part of him softened at the look she gave him. She wasn't going to beat him up for the moment. She wasn't going to scream at him yet.

"Please don't cry, Akane," he smiled, brushing tears from the other cheek.

"Ranma I. . . how can you. . . the wedding fiasco, it doesn't even seem to bother you. Don't you care one way or the other? I mean, you've said before that you need me and I. . ." she broke off, fresh streams of hot water flowing from her eyes. She didn't cover her face, though, and she didn't blink them back.

"Well, I. . ." he stopped for a moment, puzzeled. It didn't bother him? Did she really think he was. . . okay with all of this? Did she really think he didn't. . . . "Geez, Akane, how can you even ask that?" he blurted. Her eyes widened.

"How can I. . . what, I'm supposed to understand your nonchalant nature?" she began, her voice rising. He frantically motioned for her to keep it down, but her eyes were blazing now. "I suppose I'm expected to sit back and watch all your other fiance's drool over you? I should sit back like a good girl and wait for you to decide to grow up and be a man for once!" she snarled, almost shouting. Ranma put a hand over her mouth, and she bit him. He snatched it away, a trail of blood falling from his index finger.

"Don't you shush me, hentai! Let them come and see you here, it isn't as though you'd ever actually take advantage of some kawaiikunee...."she shouted, the mallet appearing out of nowhere.

Ranma rolled back into a somersault, the heavy mallet narrowly missing his legs. He jumped to his feet and glared at her. She glared right back. An inarticulate rage built up within him. Nothing ever changed, nothing ever got any better. . .

"Akane, you really are the stupidest girl alive," he grumbled. She raised the mallet and he prepared to dodge again. His mouth dropped open in shock as she lowered her weapon, staring at the floor.

"Ranma, if you really don't want to marry me. . . you should go on the training journey. Alone. I could stay here and keep most of your enemies and. . . fiances," she paused, as if trying to formulate words, "here. I could trick them, send them somewhere you wouldn't be. . ."

"Akane no baka," he snarled. "If I wanted to go alone, I would have just left. I ain't leaving you alone here. Or maybe you'd like that? Maybe you'd like me to be out of the way so you can go out with Ryouga? Or Kuno? Or..."

"Baka!" she snapped, the mallet swinging towards him again. He jumped over it, landing behind her. He grabbed her arms so she couldn't turn around or swing that bloody mallet. His hands started to burn as the blue battle aura around her built, but he ignored it. He hastily considered his options. He could get into a fight with her, wake the whole household up, and have everyone assume the worst since he was in Akane's room. Or, he could jump out her window, but then she'd just be mad at him for weeks. He was getting really tired of that. He had to calm her down.

"Akane, please, just hear me out. I have a good reason for everything," he pleaded. His hands grew cooler as, slowly, the blue light retreated back into her body. He released her, and she turned to face him.

"This had better be very good," she told him through clenched teeth. He took a deep breath.

"I was thinking about. . . well, you and I, and I realized we haven't ever had a serious conversation that wasn't interupted. I mean, every time I've tried to tell you something really important, every time we've been about to. . . to ah. . ." he couldn't even bring himself to mention it! An image filled his mind of Ryouga, stumbling over the same kinds of words, and he steeled himself against being like that jerk. "to kiss, we've been interupted. Don't look at me like that, there have been a few times. And I was talking to Nabiki and she told me. . . well, she was yelling at me for making you cry, and she told me girls have to hear certain things sometimes and I, well, I. . ." he fumbled with the words. He looked down, a blush filling his cheeks.

"What are you trying to say, Ranma?" she asked quietly. He looked at her in surprise. Calm? Akane was. . . calm? It unnerved him. She was looking up at him expectantly, a picture of innocence in that long white nightgown.

"Akane, when you get all jealous of Shampoo and Ucchan, you don't really think I'd, you know, date them, do you? You know that's all their dumb idea?" he asked, searching her face. She gave him a bitter little smile.

"You sure don't seem to mind, hentai," she said softly.

"What I want to know is," she continued, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you in love with any of your fiance's? Or are you just stringing all of us along until you meet some simpering little . . ." she turned away from him and fell silent. He stared at her. She didn't know. She really didn't know. And he was supposed to be the stupid one?

"I don't know if you'd call it love, but. . ." he stopped. Her shoulders were shaking. "I don't really know what this love stuff is. I mean, I don't have a clear definition of it. But there is one of them I've risked my life for, and she's risked hers for me. I want her to be happy, and safe, and I don't want any other guys following her around, but they all do. I don't know why, because she isn't cute or nice or feminine at all, really. I mean, I know all that, but every time I look at her smiling my chest gets all tight and my tongue stops working properly. What would you call that, Akane?" he asked her. She was silent, and uteterly still. For an eternity he stood there, staring at her rigid little back.

"You're in love with . . ." she whispered, breaking the interminable, crushing silence. He took a deep breath and let it out. He almost stuck his tongue out at the back of her head and asked her if she thought he was being serious. Something in the set of her shoulders stopped him. He realized with a sinking feeling that they were past that sort of teasing.

"I really, really thought you knew," he said quietly. "I didn't think it needed to be said out loud, but. . ."

"Ranma," she whispered. She still hadn't turned around. He relaxed, folding his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling.

"I thought we could sort things out between us if we got away from all these creeps for a while. You know, come to our own decision instead of just doing what everyone else wants us to do," he said quickly. He looked back at her.

She was looking up at him again, and her eyes were wet with tears. His heart sank.

"What's wrong now? Jeez, Akane, is there a leak in there somewhere? Why don't you ever cut that out?" he asked in exasperation. She wiped her eyes and sniffed.

"You are such a jerk, Ranma, you can't even be nice to me ten seconds after you tell me you love me," she said, without vehemence. In fact, she was smiling at him. He leaned towards her, his eyes on those full, pink lips. She wasn't going to thwack him, no one was going to interupt, and he could finally do what he'd wanted to do since he saw her in that wedding dress. . .

She closed her eyes, a small sweet smile playing on her lips. He put his hands on her shoulders, drawing her closer. She smelled like lavender. . .

"Akane, I heard voices, is everything. . . oh," a voice said from the doorway. Ranma froze and Akane's eyes flew open, just inches away from his own. They shared a petrified sort of frustration before turning to look at the interloper.

Kasumi was standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with shock. Ranma and Akane leapt apart, blushing furiously as a happy smile stretched across Kasumi's face.

"So you two are. . . well, I was getting worried," she said quietly. She beamed at both of them, making their collective blush deepen. "Father will be so happy to know you're getting along so well!"

"Kasumi, don't tell him!" Akane pleaded, her voice sticken with panic. Kasumi regarded her with mild surprise.

"But you know Father wouldn't disaprove," she said. She looked from Ranma's paniced face to Akane's paniced face. "He'd probably just arrange a wedding. . ."

"Yeah, we know how well that would turn out," Ranma muttered. Kasumi's eyes widened in understanding.

"A wedding, you say? Kasumi, what are you doing?" Soun asked from the hallway. "Is Akane not in her room?"

Kasumi shot the twitching teenagers a sympathetic glance and shut the door. They could still hear her talking.

"Oh, Father! I was just checking in on her, she was talking in her sleep," Kasumi said sweetly. Ranma and Alane looked at each other for a moment.

"You see what I mean about interuptions?" he whispered, and jumped to the window. He slid it open, giving Akane one last, frustrated look. He jumped out the window as she climbed back into her bed.

"Akane? Are you having bad dreams about weddings?" Soun asked, opening the door slowly. She was lying on her bed, her eyes closed. He sighed, looking at his youngest daughter. If only she and Ranma. . .

Then he noticed the mallet in the middle of the floor.

-----------------------

"Akane! Wake up!" Sayuri said, poking the back of her head with a pencil. Akane started, her eyes flying open. She had almost fallen face- first into the lunch Kasumi had packed for her. She looked around at the cirlce of girls surrounding her, flushed at being caught dozing.

"What is the matter with you?" her friend Yuki asked, sipping her soda. Akane looked down at her lunch and realized she wasn't at all hungry.

"I, um, woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep," she explained. Her friends exchanged kowing glances.

"Was it a dream that woke you up? Maybe a dream about Ranma-kun?" Sayuri teased. Akane turned bright red.

"Or maybe the would-be groom himself? I'm sure he's getting really frustrated, sleeping on his cold pallet instead of in his marriage bed," Yuki smiled mailiciously. They shreiked with laughter, watching Akane's face get redder and redder.

"Don't you guys have anything else to talk about!" she cried.

---------------------

Ranma watched Akane and her friends in aprehension. They were all laughing and glancing over at him. He was sure she'd told them. What was the gossip going to be now? Akane looked like she wanted to die, and Ranma empathized. If he had to hear one more crack about his unfortunate lack of a wedding night, he might kill someone.

"Could you tear your eyes off her for one minute and talk to me?" Daisuke asked, his voice full of laughter. Ranma closed his eyes. The whole world was laughing at him.

"You haven't touched your food," Daisuke pointed out. Ranma shoved some yakisoba in his mouth and glowered at his friend.

"I was getting worried about you," he nodded, watching Ranma eat. "So, you finally worked up the nerve to sneak into her room?" he watched, apathetic, as Ranma began to choke. "Thought so. About time."

"And what do you know about it?" Ranma asked, looking around suspiciously. Daisuke sipped at his soda, am evil grin spreading across his face.

"Let's see... First off, I know something happened because she hasn't so much as yelled at you once today. In fact, every time she looks at you she blushes. Not to mention both of you have circles under your eyes. . . perhaps tired after some nocturnal activity?" Ranma glared at Daisuke. His friend raised his hands in the usual Takahashi manner and smiled nervously.

"Hey, Ranma, I'm just telling you what everyone else is saying! The whole school is speculating about what happened," he said quickly.

"Don't you people have ANYTHING else to talk about?" he yelled, disgusted. At almost precisely that moment, Ukyo stormed into the classroom. Ranma contemplated jumping out the window. He hadn't seen her this mad since. . . well, since he'd known she was a girl. She stormed right past him, throwing a little black lump at Akane. Akane was staring at Ukyou in dismay.

"Ukyou. . .Hey, this is P-chan!" she exclaimed, holding up the little black lump. He'd lost his bandanna somewhere along the way, which was very, very strange. He was dripping wet. "Where was he?"

"I saw him fall in the pool, you freak. I can't believe you. You've been letting him follow you into the girl's locker room, letting him sleep in your bed, doing god only knows what," Ukyou snarled, her hands clenching and unclenching. Ranma stared at her in abject horror. Did she know?

"Does Ranchan know? Know about you and this idiot?" Ukyou asked, her hand going for the spatula strapped to her back. Akane blinked at her, obviously confused.

"Yeah, I guess... he's just a pig, Ukyou," she said, getting to her feet slowly. She clutched P-chan to her chest, backing away from the glowing Ukyou.

"Don't play stupid with me, I know exactly what he is! And all this time Ranchan has been ignoring me for you, you've just been leading him on!" Ukyou snarled. She knew! Ukyou lashed out at Akane, her spatula missing the smaller girl by centimeters as Akane leapt backwards.

"Ucchan! Cut that out!" Ranma cried, stepping in front of his childhood friend. He held his hands out to his sides. She glared up at him.

"Ranchan, that woman has been cheating on you with Ryouga! Why are you protecting her?!" Ukyou said. Ranma winced.

"No, she hasn't. Ukyou. Akane doesn't know about . . . about that," he said. Ukyou stared at him in astonishment.

"What, she's never seen Ryouga get wet?" Ukyou asked, lowering her spatula. Ranma lowered his arms.

"What the hell is going on?" Akane demanded behind him. Both Ranma and Ukyou ignored her.

"Ranchan, you knew? You knew, and you let that little freak follow her into the girl's locker room? Let him sleep in her bed? Let her hold him like that?" Ukyou gestured towards Akane, who was clutching the unconscious pig between her breasts. Ranma closed his eyes, swallowing hard. "You really don't care much for her, do you?"

"I do too!" he snapped, then instantly regretted saying it. He opened his eyes to see a very surprised Ukyou, still holding her spatula. "I tried to get her to stop all that, but she's so blasted stubborn and. . ."

"Why couldn't you just tell her, you jackass? Why didn't you tell me, for that matter? And here I thought you were an honest man!" Ukyou shouted, taking a firm grip in her spatula. He swallowed hard again, this time out of nervousness. Ukyou may be his oldest friend, but he knew she would probably kill him for this.

"It's my fault he's cursed, I knocked him into the spring. And I promised him . . ."

"You guys have got to be kidding," Akane said softly behind him. Ranma froze. Suddenly, he could hear the whispers of their classmates. He even heard a few ribald comments, which he refused to acknoweldge. He turned, very slowly, to look at Akane. She was staring, eyes wide and vacant, at her pet pig.

"Akane?" he asked. She didn't look up at him.

"It makes sense, I guess, doesn't it? That's why you were always so jealous of the stupid pig. That's why . . ." she looked up at him, her eyes seeking something past him. "But that can't be true! I've seen him get wet! When you and Shampoo set us up on that date. . . he chased me through a pool of cold water. He didn't change then."

"Akane, you remember the soap Shampoo and I were trying to get that day? It was waterproof soap. Ryouga stole it from Shampoo, and that's why he didn't change," Ranma explained quietly. Akane's eyes widened. She dropped P-chan, and he hit the ground with a wet thwump. She stared down at him, at the dark spot in her uniform where she'd cuddled him.

"Oh," she said, her voice very small and distant. A light hand touched his shoulder, and he turned to see Ukyou holding a steaming teakettle.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Good to see I was missed. I went to get some from the nurse," she explained, pouring some hot water on P-chan. His form blurred, and suddenly Ryouga was lying naked on the floor. He blinked and sat up, holding his head which bore a nasty bump.

"Where am I?" he asked, not opening his eyes. Every girl in the classroom, except two, screamed. A few guys even started shouting. There was a massive rush to the door as everyone tried to go get a teacher. Ranma's eyes flicked to Akane, expecting to see the mallet appear, or the air around her turn blue. Nothing happened. She just stared down at the naked Ryouga. Then she did the last thing he expected her to do.

She fainted.

"Akane!" he gasped, jumping over Ryouga to catch her before she hit the ground. He picked her up.

"Akane?" Ryouga asked, opening his eyes at last. He looked down at himself, then at the staring teenagers around him, and turned seven shades of red. He looked up at Ranma, at Ranma's arms full of an unconscious Akane. Realization dawned on him. He stared up at Akane in Ranma's arms and he wanted to die.

Without a word, Ranma strode around Ryouga and took Akane down the hall to the nurse's office.

--------------------

"Ranma?" Ryouga asked from the doorway. He was wearing gym shorts someone had lent him. He looked strangely naked without the bandanna. "Is she. . . going to be all right?"

"Yeah," Ranma sighed. He thought so, anyway. He'd never seen her so. . . blank. "She's in shock or something. I didn't tell her, by the way. Ukyou found out, she said she saw you fall into the pool. . ." Ranma trailed off. Ryouga looked so depressed, like the girl he loved had just fainted at the sight of him. . .

"Yeah, I was looking for Happosai, I followed him here from the dojo. He knocked me in, and I hit my head," Ryouga explained, staring at the white curtain behind Ranma. She was back there, he just knew it.

"You should get out of here for a while, Ryouga," Ranma suggested. "You should go find Akari. Give Akane some time to get used to the idea of you as P-chan," he said. He wanted to tell the loser to go away and never come back to Akane again. He couldn't. Maybe it was the look on Ryouga's face.

"Yeah, I. . . I might just do that," Ryouga said sadly. He turned, slowly, and shuffled down the hallway. Ranma watched him go, hoping his friend wouldn't do anything too terribly stupid. Ranma told himself firmly Ryouga had only himself to blame, since he hadn't told Akane. He looked back at the white curtain and was shocked to see it was pulled apart. Akane stood there, staring at him. He walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You should have told me," she whispered. He took a deep breath.

"I gave him my word as a martial artist. I tried to get you to guess it on your own, but. . ." he stopped. If he said any more, she was going to kill him for pointing out her own stupidity.

"And you told Ukyou you care about me. But she's right, you did let Ryouga sleep in my bed and. . . and watch me undress," she looked down. He took another deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Akane," he said. She looked up at him, her lips trembling and her eyes shining. He drew her closer, wishing there was something he could fight. He felt so much better when there was some physical problem, a problem he could punch in the nose. He could protect her from those, but this... He looked down at her face, just a few inches from his own. They were always interupted, someone was going to come in. . . he kissed her nose.

"Hey, is Aka. . ." Ukyou asked from the doorway, stopping mid-word. Ranma jumped away from her, and Akane looked down, blushing. Ukyou stood in the doorway of the nurse's office, her mouth open in surprise.

"So, I take it you guys are getting along better now?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. Ranma looked from her to Akane, who as yet had no expression on her face. He took a deep breath.

"You might say that," he answered carefully. Ukyou looked at him for a moment, then leaned against the doorjamb.

"You choose her," she said softly. Ranma blushed.

"Well, I. . ." he stuttered. Ukyou looked at the unusally sedate Akane.

"You never even considered me, did you?" Ukyou asked softly. Ranma blinked at her, confused.

"Considered you as what, Ukyou?" he asked, racking his brain. She sighed, rearding Akane carefully.

"Thought not. Hey, sugar, take care of Ranchan for me, okay?" she asked, abruptly walking away. Ranma watched her go, entirely confused.

"What's with Ucchan?" he asked Akane. She looked at him with those blank eyes of hers and shook her head.

"You are blind to the world around you," she told him, her voice even, her eyes dead. He watched her walk slowly back to class, her gait halting, as if she couldn't see the ground in front of her. That wasn't right, Akane should have gotten mad. . . she should have sent them all flying to Jupiter, especially Ryouga. But she just stood there.

This was bad, Ranma decided. Something was seriously wrong with Akane. She was too subdued, too calm. . . was she drugged or something?

Or, maybe, was it just too much? Was she in shock? He followed his fiance with narrowed eyes, half-expecting her to fall any second, to scream, to . . . do anything! This wasn't Akane!

And Ukyou . . . considered her for what? A fiance? She knew better than that, didn't she? Hell, she was practically his sister! That was how she acted, most of the time, always taking care of him, looking out for him. . . but not really getting jealous most of the time, just sometimes. . .

Ah, hell. Women are nothing but trouble.


	2. Ukyou's Heartache

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine at all.

This is set right after the manga. I've, ah, edited it some. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

"Would you open the door? Akane!" Ranma yelled at the little yellow duck on her door. The duck didn't respond. He thought, briefly, about kicking the door down and yelling at her. She didn't have to take everything so blasted hard. . . It was all her own fault for not guessing about Ryouga in the first place. . . She could have listened to him when he told her not to sleep with the blasted pig but she never listened. . .

"Ranma, what are you doing?" Nabiki asked behind him. He jumped, startled. Nabiki was staring at him, a cookie forgotten in her hand, halfway to her mouth. "You were getting all red and glowy," she informed him, her tone only mildly surprised. "Did you two have a lover's quarrell?"

Ranma felt a warm flush spread up his neck all the way to the roots of his hair. Nabiki smiled in satisfaction and took a bite of her cookie.

"About freaking time," she smiled, and walked away. He watched her go, wishing the world would stop smirking and laughing and assuming. . . He took one last disgusted look at Akane's door and began to walk away, his bare feet padding against the bare floor.

"Son, I feel I need to talk to you," Soun Tendo said, coming up the stairs. He glanced nervously at Akane's shut door and gestured back the way he came. "Let's go downstairs and have a chat."

"Fine by me," Ranma grumbled, following Soun down the wooden stairs. Mr. Tendo led him out to the dojo, and sat down on the floor. Ranma took a seat across from him, wondering just what he'd done this time. It couldn't be about the wedding, his dad and Tendo-kun always ganged up on him for those "talks." Soun cleared his throat.

"I looked in my daughter's room last night to check on her, and I saw her mallet in the middle of the floor," he said evenly. Ranma began to sweat. "Were you in Akane's room? It's your duty as a man, as the heir to the Tendo Anything Goes Training Hall, to take care of her. You are taking care of my baby girl, are you not?" he asked, his eyes boring into Ranma's skull. Ranma gulped.

"Don't you ever get sick of planning my wedding?" he asked tiredly, staring at the floor. Tendo leaned forward, grabbing Ranma's shirt.

"You were in her room! You were! And she didn't throw you out the window, which means," Tendo sat back, his eyes wide and watery, "you two are finally. . ."

"We are NOT!" Ranma yelled at him, leaping to his feet. A splinter caught at his heel, and he ignored it. "Would you just leave me outta your sick fantasies!" Ranma felt something small hit his head at high velocity. He turned to face the attacker, dropping into a fighting stance. He stood up again, purely out of shock, when he saw it was Akane.

"Akane, what did you. . ." he looked down and saw the projectile was a tiny, stuffed black pig. He recognized it, Kasumi had given it to her for her birthday because it looked like P-chan. Something hard and small hit his temple, and he saw stars.

"Playboy!" Akane cried, drawing back that fist and using the other to knock the wind from his stomach. "Hentai!" she cried, kicking him in the chest so hard he flew into the wall. He crumpled to the ground, caughing and sputtering. It didn't hurt, so much, but it was a shock.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," he muttered, glaring at her.

"Ranma you . . . lier," she said quietly, and ran out of the dojo, into the orange afternoon. Soun rounded on Ranma, who had began to sit up but who fell back down in the face of Soun's rage.

"Ranma, what have you done to my little girl?" he screamed, spit flying out of his mouth. Ranma cringed away from him, his hands up in the usual Takahashi pose.

"I didn't do nothin' I swear!" he screamed back. He looked past Soun to the little black piglet. Akane was much, much angrier than usual. She hadn't spoken to him or anyone else, until she threw the pig at him, since she'd found out Ryouga was P-chan. Her silence had been pretty impressive, considering no one could stop asking her questions all the rest of the day.

Shock. The girl was just coming out of shock.

He surged to his feet and pushed past Mr. Tendo, who was still screaming at him as he ran out of the dojo. He had to make sure she didn't get into any trouble. She was so clumsy and stupid, she would probably fall off a cliff and die if he wasn't around. He had to. . .

"Akane!" he yelled, looking for her as he ran along his blue fencerail. The sidewalk was empty, there were no blue-haired girls in sight. He had to find her before Kuno, or Kodachi, or Shampoo, or . . . or anyone who would take advantage of her current mental state. He ran faster. "Akane!"

--------------------------------------------------

Akane fell to her knees, her hands hitting the pavement with jarring force. The little granular shapes in the concrete bit into her skin painfully. Drops of hot water fell to her hands, one by one, and she realized she was crying. Again. Damnit, she used to be the strong one.

"Idiots," she hissed, curling her fingers as if she wanted to rip the sidewalk apart. Images filled her mind, of P-chan curling up in her lap and cuddling against her chest, P-chan attacking Ranma and. . . and she had stood up for the little creep.

Ryouga, good-hearted, kind Ryouga, how could he have lied to her for so long? How could he have looked her in the face after. . . after taking advantage of her like that? And all those times he'd fought with Ranma because Ranma had hurt her, Ryouga had been doing something far, far more wrong. She thought she was going to be sick. What else had Ranma lied about? How many of his fiances had he spouted love to? The tears fell faster.

"Akane?" a hoarse voice asked above her. She didn't move. Someone kicked her gently in the side. "Is that you?"

She uncurled herself to see a very pale Ukyou. She remembered what Ukyou had walked in on, and her face flushed.

"Ukyou, I'm so sorry," she whispered. Of all the girls chasing Ranma, Ukyou was the only one she liked. And to see her all pale like that because Ranma. . . that ASS, that complete ASSHOLE, kissing her when she was too stunned to move and letting Ukyou see it. . .

"I just bet you are," Ukyou whispered. She was staring at Akane in extreme confusion. "Why were you on the ground?" she asked. Akane stood, slowly, and wiped her face. She couldn't just break down in the street, what had she been thinking?

"Ranma. . . never told me about P-chan," she said slowly. Ukyou looked at her in disgust.

"So you're curled up on the sidewalk like a lunatic because he kept one lousy secret? You have no right to be so damn upset," Ukyou snapped, her hands clenching and unclenching.

"But Ryouga was my friend, I trusted him and he. . . he. . ." she looked away. "Betrayed my faith in him," she finished. Ukyou shook her head.

"You want everything, don't you? Look, I'm sure Ryouga is a hell of a lot worse off than you are right now. I saw him leaving, and he looked like the world had just ended. So don't you get all morally offended," Ukyou admonished, a little bit of color coming into her cheeks. Akane stared at her for a moment, then nodded.

"I'm sorry you saw. . ." Akane stared at the cook hopelessly, unable to think of anything to say. Ukyou looked away, blinking furiously. Her hair had come loose in her ponytail, and stray strands hung around her face.

"Hey, in the end it is Ranchan's choice, isn't it? I mean, I could fight you for him or start wearing skirts again or. . . but he never really even thought of me as his fiance. I was always his friend," Ukyou looked back up at Akane, her stance defiant and her eyes blazing. "So now, I'm going to be Ranchan's friend. I'm going to let him be happy. Just. . . just keep him away from my shop, ok? I don't want to see him for a while," Ukyou told her, and walked away. Her long hair bounced with each step.

"Oh, Ukyou," Akane said miserably. She knew the other girl had left Ranma in her hands. She couldn't let Ukyou ever see him sad or angry with her, because then Ukyou would know that even if they did love each other...if if if. . . they couldn't ever be really happy, could they?

In the end, all Ukyou attempts to free her from pressure had made her feel more trapped. She'd never said she wanted Ranma. She did want him, but what gave them the right to assume?

"Hey, Akane! There you are!" she heard a familiar voice yell. She turned to see Ranma running towards her along a fence rail. He looked worried.

"I've been looking for you! What were you thinking, running off like that? Something could have happened to you, you clutzo!" he yelled, jumping down to land in front of her. She just stared at him. He was worried about her. She was going, for Ukyou's sake, to forget he had just insulted her. This time.

"You know, I can take care of myself. I've only been studying Martial Arts all my life," she said mildly. "And, as I recall, I've saved your sorry skin a few times."

"And when was that?" Ranma yelled, the space between his eyes furrowing. She just smiled at him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. His eyes widened, and he fell flat on his butt. She didn't even have to push him. 'Triumph', Akane thought, grinning down at him.

"Well, if you get all off balance because of a little thing like that, how on earth do you think you can protect me?" she smiled. He just stared at her in shock. She simply started walking away. She knew he would follow her. And when he did. . . he had better be nice. Her hands were itching to hit something.

"Akane, that didn't count!" he yelled, and she heard footsteps coming up behind her. She closed her eyes and kept walking.

"Ranma!" someone yelled in front of her, and she opened her eyes in surprise. Shampoo was leaning off her bike just a few feet in front of her. She would have run right into the purple-haired Amazon. Anger started boiling up in her again. So Ranma was just going to stay quiet and let her run into Shampoo? Very, very funny.

"Ranma, you want help Shampoo with delivery?" she asked, batting her eyes. Akane thought she was going to be sick. A heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Nah, I have to walk Akane home," he answered, with a nervous laugh. Akane's left eye twitched. Did he truly think her so helpless?

"Oh, no, Ranma, I can take care of myself," she said, smiling and taking his hand with both of her own. "Why don't you find a friend of yours for Shampoo to SLEEP NEXT TO!" she screamed the last part as she threw him over her shoulder and punted him into the blue sky. Her chest heaved as she watched him become a speck in the distance. "Baka."

"What pervert girl talking about?" Shampoo asked her, putting one hand on her hip. Akane ignored her, walking right past the amazon. She was going home. She was going to do her homework, and eat her dinner, and burn all her pictures of P-chan. If either Ranma or Ryouga had any survival instincts at all, they would avoid her.

She stomped all the way home, taking out some of her frustration and anger on the pavement under her feet. She left a little series of cracks in the sidewalk as she went, little indentations where her feet had landed. When she walked in the door, Kasumi came out to greet her.

"Hello there. Where have you been?" she asked calmly, her usual angelic smile spread across her face. Akane sighed and took off her shoes by the door.

"Oh, just out for a walk. I'm going to go do some homework now," she said, hoping that would get Kasumi to go back to the kitchen. Her sister laid a hand on her arm as she walked past.

"I think you should go see Father first. He's in the dojo with Mr. Saotome," kasumi smiled. Akane shook her head.

"The last thing I want is to listen to those two."

"Akane-chan," Kasumi said more sternly. Akane looked at her sister helplessly, at the unruffled smile, and thought she was going to scream. Instead she took a deep, steadying breath. She walked past her sister and went out to the dojo in her stocking feet. She hadn't taken off her school uniform yet, and the cuffs on her puffy sleeves were beginning to get to her.

"It is absolutely unacceptable. Do you think the boy will do the right thing?"she heard her father ask. The door to the dojo was closed. She paused outside, wondering what they could be talking about. She didn't want to eavesdrop, but . . . they were talking about Ranma, weren't they?

"I don't know, Tendo. The boy can be extremely stubborn. Are you sure about him and Akane?" Mr. Saotome asked. Akane's stomach clenched, and her fingertips turned to ice. They couldn't be talking about. . .

"When I went to check in on her last night, her mallet was lying in the middle of her floor, which means someone was in there. She didn't scream or throw anyone out of her window so. . . whoever it was, she welcomed into her room. It couldn't have been anyone but Ranma, could it? My little girl wouldn't. . ." her father's voice got more and more high- pitched. Akane clenched her fists. If that was what they really thought of her, they could just shove it up their. . .

"I'm sure she wouldn't, Tendo-kun, you know your daughter better than that. I suppose it's all up to the boy, now," Mr. Saotome said sagely. Akane felt something warm hit her leg, and realized she'd drawn blood with her fingernails. Her palms each had four little crescent shaped cuts.

Everything was up to Ranma? She didn't have any say in the matter at all? She felt as if she'd been dropped into feudal Japan, all her rights given to the menfolk who "took care of her." Rage boiled under her skin. She'd show all those pompous jerks. No one got to make her decisions for her. No one! Not her father, not Ranma's father, and certainly not that bloody idiot who kept insisting she couldn't do anything on her own! She made her own choices, and always had!

What gave them the right to decide things, anyway? Her father hadn't ever been the responsible head of the household, Kasumi had filled that position since she was eight. An eight-year-old little girl was a better parent than him! And Ranma's father had never done anything but cheat and steal and trade his son off for things. . . the two of them, honestly, what gave them the idea. . .

She made her own choices. She had been ever since she was very, very small. SHE chose to study the art, no one forced her. SHE chose to make good grades in school, there were no rewards for her if she did. SHE chose how to deal with the boys that had been following her around. And if Ranma's actions were any indication of his ability to decide which girl he wanted, it would be HER decision as to whether or not they went any further.

Ranma had said something about getting away from all the others last night. As much as she hated to admit it, he had a good point. He'd suggested they go on a training mission together to get away from all their other suitors. She'd rejected the idea because of what everyone would think but. . . if they all thought she and Ranma had eloped, they'd all leave them alone.

And if she made it perfectly clear just who had made that decision, maybe that would show her father a thing or two, as well.

----------------------------------------------

"Where did the little freak go?" Ranko growled, looking around her. Her day kept getting worse. First, Ukyou had discovered Ryouga's little secret and broadcast it all over the school. Then she'd started acting all weird after she interupted Ranma and Akane—as if she had any reason to act weird! They were the ones who kept getting interupted! And Akane was mad, so mad she wouldn't talk to her. To top it all off, when Akane had punted him, he'd landed in some lady's pool—and become a her.

And now, the little freak had ticked her off and wasn't around to take his punishment. He'd found her trudging home, groped her, and run off too fast to follow. She cracked her knuckles, snarling at the world around her. She'd ended up right outside the Tendo Dojo, but she refused to go inside until she'd found the little freak. She really, really needed to pound something. Where were all her romantic rivals when she had a use for them?

"Ranma?" Akane's voice asked behind her. Ranko froze. She turned slowly and saw Akane standing in the open gateway of the training hall. Akane was still wearing her school uniform, and she was standing outside in her stocking feet. Ranko looked her up and down, beginning to get seriously worried.

"Come inside," Akane said softly, widening the creaky red door. Ranko looked at her in astonishment. Akane was mad at her, wasn't she? Why was she acting so nice? What could she be plotting?

She looked closely at her fiance, and noted the gleam in her eye. Akane was up to something. More pain, no doubt. That could definitely wait until later.

"I ain't going inside until I find the little pervert," Ranko announced, tossing her head. Ranko leaned against the wall, trying to think of where the little pervert could have gone. She'd only lost him twice before, usually she was more than a match for his speed. Unless he'd found a way to go faster, he was hiding out somewhere. Maybe he'd ducked into some bushes, or snuck into a house, or. . .

"Ranma, I need to talk to you," Akane snapped, all the softness in her voice replaced with an iron edge. Ranko nodded, closing her eyes and bracing herself for the swing of the mallet. There were some bushes by the preschool, maybe the little creep had ducked in there. If she went back after Akane punted her, maybe she could. . .

"Ranma, I said I needed to talk to you!" Akane cried, punching her in the stomach. Ranko squeaked in alarm. That was just breaking the rules! Akane was supposed to just punt her and let her be on her merry way!

"What was that for?" she asked acidly. Akane glowered at her.

"For ignoring me, you jerk. Would you listen?" Akane hissed, looking around them. The street was empty. The sun was setting, and night was crawling out from under the bushes and the eaves of buildings.

"You suggested last night we go on a training mission together," she said at last, taking a deep breath. Ranko blinked. "We're going. Tonight. And you're cooking," she added, seeing the doubtful look on Ranko's face. To Akane's great frustration, those words spread releif across Ranma's features like butter on a rice ball . . . Funny, Ranma never wanted to eat her buttered rice balls. . .

"Sounds like a plan!" Ranko smiled, releived she wasn't expected to eat Alane's cooking. "But, aren't you still worried everyone will think we've eloped?" she watched the other girl's face closely, looking for the reason she'd changed her mind. Akane gave her a smug little smile. She took Ranko's hand and drew the little redhead back through the gate with her, then leaned in really close to Ranko's ear

"You know, if they think that, maybe everyone will just leave us alone," she whispered, brushing her lips against Ranko's neck before turning to leave. Ranko watched her for a moment, blue eyes wide in surprise.

"No protests, no 'hey, I'm a girl right now,' nothing. He just let me do it. And they think it's all up to HIM?" Akane muttered as she walked back through the front door.

The next morning Kasumi found a piece of paper on Akane's pillow instead of her head. The note read;

Dear Father,

I overheard you and Mr. Saotome discussing me last night, and I want you to know you were completely wrong. A marriage between Ranma and myself is not "up to the boy," it's really up to me. You can bully him or promise him a cure, but that kind of thing won't work on me. It was my decision to make, and I've made it.

Ranma and I have gone to elope. We're sick of your scheming. We'll be back eventually, we aren't sure when. Until then, try to keep Happosai out of trouble, okay?

Love,

Akane


	3. Announcements!

Disclaimer—these characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Which makes me wonder, why am I writing about them?

Chapter 3

"Nihao!" Shampoo smiled, holding up her metal ramen box. She stepped lightly through the rubble which had once been the back wall of the Tendo living room. Nabiki, who was reading at the table, glared up at the Amazon. ::Three times in a week!:: Nabiki thought glumly,:: three times we've had to pay to fix a wall because Tarzana over there doesn't like doors.::

"What are you doing here?" Nabiki asked, folding her hands under her chin. Shampoo held up the ramen box again.

"Shampoo is here on delivery. Is Ranma home?" she asked brightly. Nabiki smiled, a cruel little smile, and considered her options. She really, really wanted to see the look on Shampoo's face when she found out about Ranma and Akane. On the other hand, she liked all her bones precisely where they were, and intact.

"No, he's gone with Akane," Nabiki said slowly, gauging the Amazon's reaction. Shampoo's brow furrowed, but she showed no signs of current homicidal intent. Nabiki's smile deepened into a malicious smirk.

"Where they go?" Shampoo asked, her tone merely curious.

"Well, according to the note Akane left. . ."

"Shampoo! My goodness, but you were quick with that delivery," Kasumi smiled, stepping out of the kitchen. Nabiki glared at her sister. Sweet little Kasumi to the rescue again, ruining all her fun. She picked up her manga again as the two smiling girls trekked into the kitchen.

"Truthfully, Shampoo, I ordered your ramen so I could talk with you," Kasumi said cheerfully. Shampoo blinked in confusion.

"You want talk to Shampoo?" she asked, putting down her delivery box. Kasumi handed her money for the ramen, which disappeared quickly. She turned and picked up a cookie, offering it to the younger woman. Shampoo took the cookie but didn't eat it. A woman who knows poisons never eats what she is given.

"Yes," Kasumi said quietly. Her angelic smile never faltered. "This morning when I went to wake up Akane, she wasn't in her bed. Ranma has gone missing too," she informed the Amazon. Shampoo's eyes grew wide, and she fell against the counter.

"Did they say where they going?" she asked, her voice rough. Kasumi laid a gentle hand on Shampoo's shoulder. She was shaking. The older girl felt a surge of pity for the Amazon but. . . there was nothing to be done.

"The note on Akane's bed said they were going to elope," Kasumi said quietly. Shampoo went perfectly still for what seemed an eternity. A cool, gentle breeze blew in from the ruined wall. When Shampoo spoke, she did not raise her eyes.

"Ranma is mine by Amazon law. Akane should no interfere," she said quietly. Kasumi smiled gently and would have said more, but Shampoo pushed past her and leapt out of the ruined dining room. With a flash of purple hair, she was gone.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Kasumi sighed, leaning against the counter. She looked down at the box of ramen. "Now I just need to tell the Kunos."

----------------------------------------

Kuno looked around the Tendo dining room in shock. He'd seen the place before, in passing, but he hadn't fully appreciated the squalor in which his beloveds lived. His Akane and the pigtailed girl should never, ever have to eat in such vile settings. The place was absolutely falling apart! One of the walls was knocked in, no doubt by some thug bent on terrorizing his loves. . .

"Would you like more tea?" Kasumi said sweetly. Kuno looked up and saw that she was, in fact, offering more to his twisted sister. Kodachi was also looking around the place, her expression a perfect picture of appalled sorrow. He imagined her thoughts must be much like his own. She, of course, would be thinking of a much baser creature than his beloved pigtailed girl.

"No, thank you. Why have you asked us to come to this . . . place?" Kodachi sneered, turning her face away from the proffered tea. Kasumi didn't answer, instead she placed the tea down in front of herself. She couldn't take it any longer. These people were so rude and unkind, how could they have been raised in a decent household? If she had her way, she could march right up to whoever raised these cruel cretins and demand what they had been thinking. . .

"I thought I would apologize for our inability to send each of you a wedding invitation," Kasumi said softly, her head bowed. She didn't want to see those sneers anymore.

"Well, who is getting married?" Tatewaki said, disinterested. He looked towards the hallway. Where was Akane? He was certain she'd arranged this. What could she be doing? What was his love planning? And for goodness sake, what was taking her so blasted long to show herself?

"Akane and Ranma, of course," she replied. Tatewaki spit out his tea. He looked at the eldest Tendo is shock about to demand what she meant by that jest. His twisted sister beat him to the punch, however. Kodachi was shaking Kasumi, screaming in her face.

"What do you mean, MY RANMA marry that VILE TEMPTRESS?" she was screaming. Kuno pulled his sister off the shocked Tendo sister. Kasumi stared at both of them wide-eyed, her hair mussy and her breath coming on short gasps. Tatewaki knelt in front of her, hoping she could get calm enough to tell him what he needed to know.

"Where are they to be wed?" he asked evenly. Kasumi stared at him. "For the sake of my sanity, woman, where are they to be wed?" he screamed, losing his composure. Kasumi jumped as if startled.

"I... I don't know. There was just the note on her bed saying they were going to elope!" she replied. Kuno drew his sword and charged out of the house, leaving through the hole in the wall. Kodachi fixed the trembling Tendo with an icy glare.

"If you are lying, if you have made this up. . ." she threatened, her clothes falling away to leave her in a gymnastics leotard. She twirled a ribbon in Kasumi's face. "I will shred you. Do you understand?"

With that, she left the way of her brother. Kasumi stared after them in shock. No one had ever threatened her in seriousness, that Kodachi woman. . . she burst into tears.

----------------------------------

The Nekohaten was between the lunch crowd and the dinner crowd. At the moment, there were only six people in the whole place. Cologne watched as Mousse spilled a man's ramen all over his shirt. She sighed deeply as Mousse yelled at her customer for his own mistake. Good thing her great granddaughter had no interest in him, he was hopeless.

"Mousse, stop that. I'm so sorry, sir, he's a bit addled," she called across the room. Mousse looked up at her. "How about this ramen is free? Mousse, get over here and give this man some more ramen."

Just after she'd yelled at the penitent Mousse, the doors burst open. Cologne glared up at the intruder, sure it was someone come to complain or cause trouble. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Shampoo.

"Great-grandmother, I need go on special journey," she announced, her eyes seeing only the shriveled old woman. She strode right past Mousse, who fell over a chair while he watched her walk by. She walked into the back part of the restaurant. Cologne watched her go, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Mousse, watch the front!" she called out. She followed the purple hair of her youngest kinswoman back into their living quarters.

"Where are you planning to go?" she asked carefully. Shampoo's eyes were flashing with anger, and she wouldn't get any information if she was too pushy.

"I follow Ranma and pervert girl," she snapped, picking up her bonboris. She walked to her doorway and stopped in front of her great- grandmother.

"Out of way," she said, staring over the head of the crone. Cologne clucked her tongue.

"What has happened, child?" she asked. Shampoo started to step over her, but she hit the young woman on the head. "I said, what happened? You don't want to make me angry," she warned. Shampoo took a deep breath, and Cologne saw with a shock there were tears in her eyes.

"Ranma and Akane have gone to elope," she said, in Chinese. Cologne swayed on her feet, closing her eyes.

"You have failed completely, then. You have failed to kill the woman who beat you and you have failed to marry the man. The only way for you to retain any honor is to beat him as a man and you, my child, are not capable of it," Cologne answered her, letting her own tongue slip back into their first language. Before, she had insisted Shampoo speak Japanese at all times to practice. If she was going to marry a Japanese man, she would have to speak the language. Both of them knew such things were futile now. They would have to go back to China. In disgrace.

"I am going to kill that Akane Tendo. She cannot take from me what is mine!" Shampoo cried in her first tongue. She began to run past Cologne, but Cologne hit the backs of her knees with her staff.

"You will not!" she said firmly, her hair flying up around her head. She strode around to her great-granddaughter's head and took the child's chin in her hand. "You will go back home in disgrace. You will NOT break a third law by stealing another woman's husband! She may not be your Amazon sister, but Ranma is still her property now and you will NOT be a thief!" Cologne ordered. Shampoo burst into tears. Cologne left her alone, curled on the floor, sobbing out the liquid remains of her heart.

Cologne closed her eyes. She could, by all rights, kill Ranma for what he had done to her kinswoman. Never make a woman cry. On the other hand, it would be a terrible waste of talent. He was a skilled martial artist. How could she save her kinswoman's honor? The only way was to kill the girl Ranma, but that was impossible without leaving the boy behind.

Her eyes flew open. They found the unmarked jar on the shelf above her bed. Inside the jar was some water, water she'd been planning to use to bribe Ranma into marrying Shampoo. Her gaze flicked to her sobbing great- grandchild. No hope of that, but the water could still come in handy. With it, she could remove the girl Ranma from existence. She could save the honor of her kinswoman.

On the other hand, it would be so much more gratifying just to kill him and get it over with.

------------------------

The Tendo household was full of sake, food and music all night. The neighbors called to tell them to keep it down around two AM. A very drunk panda answered the phone, which was quickly snatched by the panda's wife. She hrumphed at her inarticulate husband before saying anything into the phone.

"Moshi moshi," she said brightly, a smile plastered on her face. Nodoka couldn't be more happy, her son had finally taken some manly course of action. As she listened to the people on the phone, her brow got more and more furrowed. Eventually she simply slammed the phone down on the receiver.

"When the newlyweds get back, we'll show those pompous idiots what a real party sounds like," she said, her voice low and determined. She viewed her husband and her new in-laws. A slow smile spread across her face.


	4. Blue Rocks and Moonlight

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine at all.

This is set right after the manga. I've, ah, edited it some. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

"Wow, you weren't kidding. This place is really fantastic!" Akane smiled, stepping lightly over the piles of rough blue rocks. Ranma watched her hop from stepping stone to stepping stone, wondering how long it would be before she slipped and broke something. He stayed close behind her, just in case. . . well, just in case something happened.

It was a pretty incredible campsite, truth be told. The blue stones under his feet were everywhere, big and small, with little purple orchids growing out of the cracks in the bigger ones. There were flowers everywhere, feverfew and gardenias and mums. That was really why he wanted to bring Akane here, he knew she'd love the flowers. It was one of the few places he'd trained that a girl might think was pretty. Of course, the abundance of water kind of scared him. Everywhere you looked there was another little clear pool, with little brown fish and little blue rocks all along the bottom.

"Yeah, this is where Pop and me camped our last night before going into Nerima," Ranma grimaced at the memory. He hadn't really appreciated the scenery back then, mostly because he was bound and gagged, and being hauled through the woods by a maniacal panda. He eyed the river they were crossing with apprehension, remembering. Akane reached the end of the stepping-stone bridge and turned to smile at him.

"Bet you weren't thrilled about coming to visit," she said brightly. He almost missed a stone, watching her. That smile was worth risking the water. Maybe he'd pick her a bunch of flowers later on. Girls like that kind of thing, right?

" Ah, maybe we'd better get a fire going and start heating some water," he suggested, leaping to shore. "Just in case. There's a lot of water around here," he said nervously. She nodded, still smiling, as he racked his brain for more pretty things she could coo over.

That little noise she made when they first crested the hill, and she could see the sea of feverfew, broken only by big blue boulders. . . that was what he wanted.

"There's a waterfall over that hill," he told her, gesturing. She smirked at him.

"Race you to the waterfall!" she cried, and took off at a dead run. Smirking a bit himself, he ran after her, up the hill, overtaking her just as the hill crested. He turned to stick out his tongue at her. . . And slid right into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

"That was SO not fair!" Ranko screamed, her red head bursting from the water. Akane giggled at her.

"Get out before your pack gets soaked through!" Akane warned, taking off her own pack. Ranko jumped out of the water and began to shake dry, getting her plenty wet in the process. "Ranma!"

"What?" she asked, innocently rifling through Akane's pack to find dry matches. She gathered some wood, lit the fire, and set a kettle full of water on a wire grate table over the flames. She turned back to Akane to find the dark-haired girl staring at her curiously.

"What?" Ranko asked, plopping down to wait for the water to get warm. Akane blushed and looked away. She wasn't going to tell. . . him or her?. . . that she'd been watching those blue eyes. Those never changed, whatever body Ranma was in. She'd know him anywhere, in any form, by looking at those eyes. On the other hand, if he were, say, a cat or a goose or a pig. . . maybe she wouldn't recognize him in just any form.

"Sorry about the waterfall," she muttered. Ranko blinked at her.

"You didn't do nothin'," she hedged. Akane looked back up at Ranko, a smile playing on her lips.

"Let's play a game," Akane said abruptly. Ranko leaned back, resting her weight on her hands behind her.

"What sort of game?" she asked.

"I dunno. I was hoping you'd be able to think of some," Akane answered quietly. Ranko sighed. Of course. There was an awkward silence as they each stared into the fire. Maybe she should go pick those flowers? Nah. Later, when she wasn't cold and wet and hungry. Maybe.

"Tell me about," Ranko began quietly, closing her eyes and letting herself fall to her back. "your life before I came to Nerima. Was it like this? Was the whole town crazy back then, or is that new?"

"Oh, it's mostly you, Ranma," Akane assured her. "Remember, most of the psychos followed you here. The only freak back then was Kuno, but he was more than enough," she shuddered, remembering. "You remember that challenge he made to the boys of our school, that no one could date me without beating me? He'd been doing stuff like that for years. Before that challenge, there was the challenge that any guy who wanted to date me would have to beat him, and before that it was a private thrashing of anyone he deemed unworthy of attending his school. . . That's why he got so bloody obsessed with me. I challenged him after he threatened one of my friends," Akane said quietly. She fell silent, staring into the fire again.

"I take it you won?" Ranko asked, just to keep the conversation going. Akane nodded. Ranko sighed and stared up at the sky, where the sun was traveling steadily towards the horizon. "That man has serious issues. I bet, when word gets out we eloped, he comes searching for his beloved pigtailed girl, thinking she's finally free," Ranma grunted in disgust. Akane smiled.

"Well, that is a minor flaw in the idea, yes. But think how much nicer it will be when everyone just leaves us alone," she said. Steam began to billow out of the kettle, and Ranko picked it up. She poured the hot water over her head, wincing as the water scalded her forehead, her shoulders, her breasts. . .

"Let's make camp," he suggested, keeping his doubts to himself.

-------------------------------

"Wow, what great gyoza dumplings!" Ranma grinned, stuffing another one into his mouth. Akane watched him with a proprietary joy. He liked her cooking! "Hey, cutie-pie, is there any more? You're the best cook!" he proclaimed, smiling at her. She blushed at the compliments, and stood to go make some more food.

"Sure, if you want," she smiled.

"You're wonderful!" he exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen, humming happily. She pulled out a bowl and some eggs. She placed the eggs beside the bowl and picked one up to crack it, but then . . . the other eggs started vibrating on the table. She watched as they danced right off the edge of the table. They fell to the floor and exploded as the world began to shake.

"Ranma!" she cried, flying out of the kitchen, into the tea room just as the back wall of the tea room exploded. Ranma was already standing to face the blast, and for a moment her eyes lost him among the debris. "Ranma!"

"Stay back!" he shouted, his voice somehow clear through the rubble. There, where the wall used to be, stood everyone who had ever had cause to think either Ranma or Akane was theirs. Akane stared at the murderous mob, which was headed by a horde of little black pigs wearing yellow bandannas.

"He. . .hey, you guys. How's it goin'?" Ranma asked, somewhat nervously. Without a word, as one, the entire mob fell on him. Ranma began to duck and fend them off but. . . suddenly he clutched at his stomach and doubled over on the ground. "Argh! My stomach! It must have been bad dumplings!" As he shouted, he disappeared among flying feet, hands, and a few knives and spatulas. . .

Then they were alone again, and she was rushing towards that limp, torn body. . .

"RANMA!" she screamed, but she could never get any closer. He got farther and farther away. . . "RANMA!"

"Akane! Wake up! Damnit, wake up!" Ranma shouted into her face as she blinked up at him, uncomprehending. She had the oddest feeling, as if she were being slung backwards into a wall, and realized she had been dreaming. She stared up at him, dazed. "Akane? Are you all right? You kept screaming for me," Ranma grunted, releasing her shoulders. She grimaced as she realized she felt like she was being slung back into a wall because the idiot had shaken her too hard.

"You always half-kill people when you're trying to wake them up?" she asked, glaring at him. He glared at her.

"No, just stubborn tom-boys who sleep like rocks!" They fumed at each other for a moment in silence. After what seemed an eternity, Ranma narrowed his eyes even further and leaned towards her. "And just what sort of dream was it, Akane? You were moaning and screaming my name."

"I. . . uh," Akane blushed, and looked away. He made it sound like. . . but she hadn't been dreaming of that! "It was a nightmare. I dreamt that everybody attacked you and you . . ." she winced at the memory of that bloody, torn body. "I'm starting to think this isn't a good idea. What if everybody takes our fake elopement too hard? What if they all get angry and attack you?" she asked, staring into those big blue eyes. He stared back at her for a moment, then shook himself as if trying to wake up.

"Eh, I can take care of myself. I'm more worried about Kodachi and Shampoo going after you," he admitted. Akane blushed. "I was going to say something soon after we got here, but. ." he trailed off, sighing deeply. "There's more, too. All that junk we've had to put up with about our wedding night. . . it may just get worse. I hope, if we tell them we're married, they'll just leave it at that and go on but. . ."

"What if they don't?" Akane interrupted. Ranma nodded. They stared at the ground for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. At long last, Akane sighed and sat all the way up, which put her just inches away from Ranma. Moonlight filtered through the thin material of the tent, just enough so she could make out the outline of his jaw. She wanted to touch his face, cup his cheeks in her hands, just so she could know he was solid. . .

No, no she didn't! What was she thinking, anyway?

"Well," she started, trying to find a way to say it. "I've mostly been embarrassed because they say things that aren't true, like when you get mad for being accused of something you haven't done. Maybe if they are true, it won't be so embarrassing. And if we don't blush every time they say something. . . maybe they'll quit," she suggested. Ranma turned red all the way from his toes to the roots of his hair. He backed away from Akane, very slowly.

"You aren't saying we should. . . you know, have. . . you aren't are you?" he stammered, his eyes very, very wide. Akane blinked at him.

"What?" she asked. He looked at his feet and tried, desperately, to regain his breath. She wasn't, surely. This was Akane. She wouldn't surprise someone like that. . . but now that he'd thought about it the image wouldn't get out of his head. . .

"Oh, ah, you know. The whole wedding night thing," he explained, willing his blood to flow in a normal pattern instead of rushing around in every direction. He felt a battle aura building near him, and looked up to see Akane glowing blue in the dark night.

"No, I WASN'T, hentai!" she snarled, lunging at him. A punch to the gut, a punch to the nose, and she left him twitching on the ground. "Forget I said anything," she growled. He sat up again, rubbing his tortured nose, and watched her with reluctance. She lay down, alone, and curled up in a ball. He watched her for a moment.

"Well, what DID you mean, then?" he snapped, glowering at her. She curled into an even tighter ball. "That's not fair, Akane, what did you mean?"

"I duffunon!" came the muffled noise from somewhere in the vicinity of Akane's head.

"What?"

"I don't know!" she snapped, sitting up abruptly. "Maybe if you'd stop being such a coward and just . . . I don't know, do something. . ."

"Like WHAT!" he snapped back. She fell silent.

"Well, you never have kissed me," she said, after a long stretch of listening to him breathe. There was another long quiet moment, then Ranma began to chuckle. The chuckle grew into a giggle. Pretty soon, Ranma was laughing so hard he ahd to hold his sides to feel like his skin would hold together.

"What the heck is so funny about that?" Akane snapped.

"It ain't for lack of tryin'!" he cried, still laughing. After a stunned moment, she joined him.

"You're right, everyone keeps interupting us!" she giggled. A thought occurred to her, and she stopped laughing as suddenly as she started. "Is that. . . is that why you wanted to go out here? Away from all the interuptions?"

He stopped laughing too. In fact, she could almost feel his blush.

"It's not, well, kind of, I mean. . . you know. . ." he stammered. "It's not just the interuptions, you know, I've never kissed anyone. . ."

"Mikado," Akane interupted. Ranma shivered.

"Ugh, don't remind me. And he kissed me, remember? Doesn't count. . . and never bring it up again."

"Shampoo?"

"She kissed me, too. And the only time I remember was that miss of marriage, and that don't count, because it's part of a ceremony."

"Oh, yeah, sure. What about that time you kissed me when you went neko?" Akane asked. Ranma didn't answer for a while. "Well? You kissed me, not the other way around. It counts."

"But I don't remember it," he said, very quietly. She narrowed her eyes at him. She hadn't thought about that for a long time, but now that she did. . . that STILL made her mad.

"Yeah, I forgot. That time you didn't know who was who, and it could have been anybody," she said, bitterly. "Tell you what. How about we go back to sleep and head home tommorow?"

"Akane, no!" Ranma snapped. She blinked. HE was mad at HER? "It couldn't have just been anyone, even when I'm a cat I . . . well, sheesh, Akane, did you ever notice that I don't go to anyone else when I'm like that? That I'm only nice to you?" he asked, pain in his voice.

Akane thought about it for a minute.

"So you meant to kiss me," she said. She grinned into the silence. "So it counts."

"Uncute tomboy," he muttered. "I bet it was your first kiss, too, and all that crap you were giving me about Mikado was bull."

"Nope, sorry Ranma," Akane answered brightly. Ranma started as if she'd just sent electricity through him.

"Who was it, then?" he asked. She smiled at the possesive note in his voice.

"Someone you've met, but you don't know him very well. My first real boyfriend, actually," she answered. He stiffened.

"Not Kuno."

"No, idiot! Of course not."

"Who, then?"

"A boy in our class. . . the one that Kuno beat up, and then I challenged Kuno, and it all went downhill from there," Akane said, frowning at the memory. "He wasn't a martial artist at all. He was a musician, he played the saxophone . . . he was really popular with the girls, and I was really popular with the guys . . . but he liked me for my personality, not because I could kick his ass. And after Kuno beat him up. . . he sort of stopped talking to me. Until Kuno made his announcement, and then he charged out there, with everyone else, to try and beat me up to win me back." She smiled a grim little smile. "The idiot actually didn't think I'd hurt him."

"I wouldn't have, either. You beat up someone who didn't know the art?" Ranma asked, softly. Beating up athletes is one thing, beating up helpless little saxophone players is another.

"No, just knocked him down. He shouldn't have been out there, anyway." Akane muttered. Ranma blinked at her for a moment, feeling there was something inherently wrong with that story.

"Didn't you like Dr. Tofu back then?" he asked. To his great shock, Akane giggled at him.

"He was so old! He was out of my league, Ranma, whether I liked him or not. My musician was smart, cute, MY AGE, and he asked me out. . ."

"I thought you used to hate boys!"

"My first boyfriend was a wuss who stopped talking to me just because I knocked him down! Then I had to fight a horde of you drooling hormone puppets every morning for months! And Kuno, don't get me started on Kuno!"

"I am NOT a hormone puppet!" Ranma declared, hotly.

"Of course not! If you were, you would have kissed me by now!" Akane announced. Ranma froze as she laughed at him.

"I didn't think you'd want. . . ." he started. Akane waved his words away, and lay down to go to sleep. He stared at her for a moment, then went back outside the tent. He stared up at the stars, his mind running through all the people he knew that played the saxophone. There weren't many, but then, that wasn't really his crowd. Maybe he'd ask Nabiki who it was when they got back. Or maybe not. They'd have enough problems. . .

Did Akane really want him to kiss her?

Akane stared into shadows within the tent, her mouth quirked into a sardonic grin.

"Coward, what did you think I wanted you to do? What's taking you so long?" she muttered.

------------------------

"Tadaima! We're home!" Akane called from the doorway. Within seconds, the entire family was crowded into the entryway, asking a thousand questions, smiling and laughing. ::At least this will get our dads off our backs,:: Akane thought, smiling at them all.

"I am so proud of you, my son!" Nodoka exclaimed. Genma and Soun were dancing little happy circles around Ranma's mother, waving white fans with red dots on them.

"So the happy couple returns. Have a pleasant night?" Nabiki asked, winking at Ranma, who blushed.

"I bet you two are hungry," Kasumi said. She gave Akane a soft hug and slipped away to the kitchen, leaving the general chaos behind her. Only Happosai stood back from the crowd, observing the "newlyweds" carefully.

"Oh, Akane, surely you didn't get married in that! And where is your ring?" Nabiki asked, gesturing towards Akane's muddy pants and bare hand. Akane and Ranma looked at each other in a panic. They were bound to have forgotten something. . .

"These two do NOT look like a newlywed couple!" Happosai announced at long last, shaking his head in dismay. "They don't have that happy glow around them! Akane and Ranma are not married!"

"WHAT!!!!?" Soun and Genma shouted, the white fans flying into the air. They rounded on Ranma, shouting generally incoherent sentences which he completely ignored.

"Just what sort of happy glow are you talking about?" Ranma asked, narrowing his eyes at the tiny old man. Happosai turned up his nose and took a deep huff of his pipe.

"Afterglow, you infantile imbecille, afterglow," he said haughtily. Ranma looked at Akane in confusion, then smiled as a thought occurred to him.

"You mean like a residual battle aura?" he asked, happy to have solved the puzzle. Happosai fell to his side, too shocked to retain his balance, then leapt to his feet. His white little eyebrows furrowed together in an adorable, frightening anger.

"How dare you claim to be married to my dear sweet Akane when you so obviously cannot make her happy? You're too stupid to know how to make a wife happy!" he cried, on the verge of tears. Akane blinked at the old man, somewhat confused. He wouldn't be talking about. . .it was Happosai. Of course that's what he was talking about.

"What!?" Ranma cried, understanding only that he had been insulted.

"It is time for your new training to begin!" Happosai announced. Ranma relaxed, his big innocent eyes confident now that they had returned to fighting. At least, he thought they'd returned to fighting. Happosai turned with a smug grin to Genma and Soun, who were yelling at each other about the faulty upbringing of their children.

"Soun! Genma!" Happosai snapped, and the two ignored him. He leapt at them, flashing his legs in kicks with remarkable speed for someone who had lived for centuries. Soun and Genma, from the floor, pleaded his forgiveness. He inhaled deeply from his pipe, and exhaled a smoke triangle.

"You two help me escort Ranma to the dojo for his training," he ordered.

"Just a minute," Akane said, glaring down at Happosai. She thought. . . she wasn't sure, but she thought she knew what the dirty old man was going to "train" Ranma to do. Frankly, she didn't want him to know. "Just what are you going to train him in?"

"Why, my dear, little Akane. How sad that you must be shackled with such a worthless husband!" Happosai sighed, hanging his head.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted.

"Don't worry, Akane, I'll teach him everything I can about making you happy!" Happosai cried, as, like a whirlwind, the four men left the house for the dojo. Akane stared after them, speechless.

"I wonder how they plan to teach him. Do you think they'll use dolls or practice on each other?" Nabiki said, dryly. Akane started. She had almost forgotten her sister was in the room.

"Onnechan!" she hissed. Nabiki shrugged.

"Well, girls practice on each other, don't they?" Nabiki replied.

-------------------------------

Ranma did not like this situation one bit. Firstly, Soun and Genma were sitting on either side of him, preventing any easy escapes. He was sort of curious as to what the old man was going to teach him, but as time wore on he was less sure he wanted to know. The old man was keeping himself busy arranging some of his "collection" on a mannequin he'd gotten somewhere. Ranma shuddered to think about what had happened to that poor mannequin.

"Now, we shall begin!" Happosai announced at last. Ranma sat up a little straighter. Happosai cleared his throat.

"Kindness is the first step towards making a woman happy. If you are unkind to a strong woman, you will never be able to progress to the following steps. The second step," Happosai continued, his eyes closed and his face deadly serious, "is the kiss."

::What the hell kind of training is this?:: Ranma thought, grimacing in revulsion .

"Every kiss should begin gently," Happosai continued. Soun and Genma were nodding sagely. Ranma wondered if he'd fallen asleep and was having a nightmare. "After that, well, it is a matter of personal taste. You must sense what she wants, what will make her happy. A kiss is the best way to learn how to test that. For example, if a woman moans in an erotic fashion while you kiss her. . ."

"We are TALKING about my little girl!" Soun interjected. Happosai's face screwed up into a little wrinkly ball.

"Do you want grandchildren or not!" he shouted at Soun. Ranma, his face already beet red, stood and tried to leave. Tried. Something heavy, which happened to be Happosai, his head with enough velocity to knock him down. As he fell his father and Tendo-kun fell on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Happosai continued his lecture from the top of Ranma's head.

"If she moans, it probably means you're doing something right. If she giggles, just head out the door. The important thing is to let her know she is wanted by the kiss. Then if she seems all right with the kiss, it is time to move on to the next phase. Holding. That means holding any part of her body, really, but it is best to start with the shoulders or waist. From the waist, inch to the hips. From the shoulders, inch to the back. Once you have the back, you can pull her much, much closer a lot easier. Now, primal instinct should kick in at some point, and if it doesn't, you have no business being married to Akane. Now, after instinct has kicked in, you must remember several things. This is the most important. The first time a maid knows a man's touch. . ."

"Would you freaks get off me!" Ranma cried, desperate for an escape now. He struggled under the two older men, but every time he got leverage he was knocked down again. He didn't want to hear this, didn't want them to see his face flush when he pictured. . . but if he told them the elopement was fake, not only would he be grounded. . .

"The first time, it hurts." Happosai asserted, as if he had never been interrupted.

"Get off me!" Ranma wailed, struggling harder. Happosai glared down at his youngest disciple. The stubborn jackass couldn't just accept good fortune, could he?

--------------------

"Akane, it's me," Ranma said softly, leaning against the wooden door. His forehead brushed the little yellow duck. Some days, he wanted to rip down that bloody happy duck. This was one of those days.

She opened the door, already in her pajamas, sleepy-eyed and irritated. She looked him up and down, her gaze lingering on his hair, still wet from the baths.

"What do you want?" she asked, managing to sound irritated and soft at the same time. He took a deep breath. Well, he hadn't forced her into the woods with him . . .

"Dad kicked me out of my room, said if we were really married we could start sleeping in the same room," he said, the words coming out in a hot rush. He wasn't sure he'd stopped blushing from that "training" Happosai had put him through. He wasn't sure he'd ever stop blushing.

"Go sleep in the bathroom, then!" she hissed, beginning to close the door. He stuck his foot in, and winced as the wood pinched his bare flesh.

"Look, you thought the elopement thing would be a good idea. What do you want to do, tell them that instead of getting married we just spend a day or two in the woods? By ourselves?" he hissed, pitching his voice low so no eavesdroppers would catch the words. Akane looked uncertain for a moment, then she opened the door wide.

"You get the floor," she said, casually, and flopped down on her bed. Ranma stared at her as, within seconds, she was sound asleep. He watched her toss and turn and reflected that, even if the floor was cold and hard, he wasn't going to get any broken bones from it.

--------------------

"Scoundrel!" Kuno cried somewhere behind them. Ranma and Akane, late for school as always, exchanged annoyed looks before Ranma turned to face Kuno. But Kuno wasn't heading for Ranma. He was heading for Akane.

"Wanton! To make light of our love and marry such a foul creature!" he cried, lunging toward Akane. She dropped into a fighting stance, prepared to dodge the blow, but then . . . Ranma was there before the blow was even close to landing. He punched Kuno in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. The two fought for a moment, but a lot of time had passed since Kuno and Ranma were equals.

"Stay away from my wife!" Ranma cried, with a final punch that sent Kuno flying into the air. He turned to look at Akane, a child's grin on his face. "You know, now I can beat up all those guys who chased after you," he said gleefully.

Akane scowled at him, and brushed past him on the side walk. He watched her in confusion for a moment before chasing after her.

"What did I do?" he asked. She glowered at him.

"Who asked you to beat up anybody? Honestly, you sound almost like Kuno!" she snapped. He rocked back as if hit, then blinked at her in hurt and confusion.

"I do not sound like. . ."

"You do! Honestly, who ever asked you to interfere in my fights. . ."

"Well excuse me! If I had known you wanted him, tomboy, I wouldn't have agreed to go on that trip with you!"

"It was your idea in the first place, idiot!"

Some things, believe me on this, will never change.


	5. Stuff They SHOULD Teach in School

Dislcaimer: I don't own these characters OR their screwy lives

Chapter 5

Two weeks since he'd last slept in the room with his father. Two weeks since he'd come back from the little trip with Akane, two weeks since he's seen Ucchan or Shampoo, two weeks of sleeping on Akane's floor listening to her toss and turn. And still, the lessons with Happosai continued. No matter where he tried to hide, no matter where he ran after dinner, his father, Tendo-kun and Happosai hunted him down and made him listen to Happosai's stupid lectures. He felt as though his mind would never be clean again.

On the other hand, aside from the initial spats with Kuno, Kodachi, and Mousse, he hadn't been attacked on the way to school once. Kuno was still in the hospital from the last "spat," Mousse had given up after Akane had assured him Ranma wasn't going to try for Shampoo as well, and Kodachi. . . well, it was presumed Kodachi was hiding in her mansion. They were hurt, but they'd get over it.

But then there was Ucchan. . . .who hadn't so much as looked at him since the "elopement." On the other hand, now she wasn't going to keep lying to herself and imagining them. . .

Ranma stared out over the rooftops of Nerima, standing on the outer wall of the dojo. He hadn't heard from Ryouga, either, and that sort of worried him. Maybe the little piglet had gotten depressed and stopped eating on the road. . . There were too many people to worry about, and Ranma couldn't handle it. At least Akane was where he could keep an eye on her. . .

"Ranma?" a voice asked below him. He looked down to see Nabiki, a soda in her hand, watching him with disspassionate eyes. "You ought to come down here," she said. He obliged, leaping down and landing gracefully in front of her.

"What's up?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Your little wife is sick," she announced, without elaborating. Ranma looked up at Akane's window. He nodded to Nabiki, and leapt onto the Tendo roof. Cautiously, he bent down and looked in the window, expecting a barbell to come flying out at him any minute. Nothing flew out at him. He couldn't see Akane, but he could see tiny lumps at the foot of the bed. Feet, maybe? He slid the window open and let himself into the roof quietly.

There she was, sure enough, a shivering heap on her bed. He approached her slowly, and lay a gentle hand on what he guessed was a shoulder.

"Akane?" he asked.

"G-go away, yo-ou'll g-get s-s- sick," she said, her voice muffled. He glared down at her. Like he was conquered so easily! A cold, pah!

"Are you cold? You have nearly every blanket in the house!" he said in surprise. She nodded, or at least he thought she did. She was shivering so violently. . . maybe it was more than a cold? "Where's Kasumi?"

"D-didn't wanna g-get sick-k. Go 'way," she ordered. Ranma drew the covers back from her, slowly, half-expecting her to have some flesh-eating virus. She didn't. She was just shivering, curling up into a tiny ball.

"Akane," he said softly, and laid a hand on her arm. She was certainly feverish. She looked up at him, startled.

"Y-your hand-d is warmmm," she said, with a slight, shuddery smile. An idea occurred to him.

"Don't take this the wrong way or nothing, but you'd be a lot warmer if somebody were in there with you," he announced. She shrugged.

"Y-you're rrright. But you'lllll get-t sick-k," she warned. He made a scornful noise.

"No cold is gonna beat me, Akane," he informed her, crawling into her bed. She curled into him, sighing in satisfaction at the warmth he provided. He lay absolutely still for a moment, as if afraid she'd take any movement as an advance. But she wouldn't stop shivering. He gathered her in his arms, holding her as tight as he dared until she stopped shaking.

Ranma, his eyes closed, had a moment of absolute disbelief. He wasn't laying in Akane's bed, holding Akane until she went to sleep. He wasn't. First off, that was mushy stuff he didn't much care for, kissing was one thing but all that cuddling and stuff. . . Secondly, she wouldn't ever let him. As the night wore on and he felt her relax in his arms, snuggling closer, he decided that, real or not, he'd like to try it more often.

-----------------------

"I really don't think making Akane sick was the wisest choice, master," Genma frowned, watching Happosai iron a pair of lavender panties. Happosai glared up at him.

"Two weeks and your defunct son is still sleeping on her floor! I had to do something for the little eunuch!" Happosai snarled. Genma ignored the insults. Hell, even he was beginning to wonder what was wrong with Ranma.

"But making the girl ill. . ." he began. Happosai waved him off.

"It's an old Chinese medicine I had lying around. All it does is make people really cold, until they're in a very warm place for a long period of time. Electric blankets or a nice hot bath would clear it right up. Or," Happosai smiled, cuddling the warm panties to his cheek, "body heat."

"Master!" Genma's eyes lit up, and he began bowing to Happosai. "Truly it was genius!"

Happosai began to laugh.

"Of course! That's why I'm the master here!"

----------------------

Akane woke the next morning with a well of warmth curled around her back. Warm arms circled her waist, meeting on either side. She burrowed into the warmth, getting closer, and then her mind registered that the warmth was another person in her bed.

The events of the night before flashed through her mind, and she blushed. It was innocent, sure, but what if Kasumi walked in and saw this? On the other hand, they were supposedly married. . . why, why oh why had she ever thought that was a good idea?

She considered, breifly, picking Ranma up and throwing him out of her bed. She really wanted to. On the other hand, he had been helping her. . . he had been so concerned about her the night before, how could she punish him for something she'd asked him to do? She tried to turn in his arms, or get loose, but he was holding her too tightly.

"Ranma?" she said softly. He stirred in his sleep, but didn't wake up. She shook her shoulders against him, trying to jar him awake. No dice.

"Ranma?" she said, louder. He made a small moaning noise into her ear, and Akane realized, blushing, just how close they were. "Ranma!" she hissed, wiggling to get away from him. He moaned again, and shifted his weight, holding her more loosely. Akane tried to get free, but still couldn't. And now she could feel Ranma's breath, warm and damp, on the back of her neck. She was very, very aware of where his body was, where HER body was, all the possibilities. . . she turned red.

"Well, then, I see it is true," a voice said from the window. Akane jumped, which startled Ranma, making him release her and roll over. She sat up to glare at the intruder, an old woman hopping along on a staff, carrying a bucket. Cologne glared right back at her.

"You've stolen my grandchild's property," she warned Akane. Akane began to fume.

"My. . . husband," she said, deciding on the word Cologne would expect her to use, "is not property."

"Save it, girlie. I haven't come for you, I came to kill the redhead," Cologne announced, holding up a bucket of water. Without another word, she dumped the water on Ranma, who roared awake, sopping, drenched, pissed. . . and still a guy.

"What was that for!" he screamed, glaring at Cologne. He blinked then, noticing the tenure of his voice. He looked down at himself. "But. . . but that was cold water!" he stammered. Cologne nodded sagely.

"Not just any cold water. That was the last of the water from the Spring of Drowned Man. Now, your girl half is dead, and my Shampoo is released from her oath," Cologne lowered her voice to a more conspiratorial tone, "Since you're married now, and the girl you is dead, she's free to go back to China. Which is what we're doing. The plane departs. . . roughly now," the old woman said. With a final smile, she hopped back out the window and dissapeared.

Ranma stared down at his new body. He looked up at Akane, his face a perfect picture of joy. He dove back onto the bed, almost grabbing her, but she held out a hand to stop him.

"Wait! You're covered in cursed water!" she said. He blinked at her, and his joyful smile turned into a grimace of terror.

"You're right. I don't know if it would work like that, but if I recovered my manhood just for you to go and get your own. . . then where would we be?" he smiled again, the thought gone. He held out his hands wide, open. "Now we can be married for real, I'm a real guy!" he announced, gleefully. Akane's jaw dropped, and Ranma blushed, realizing what he'd just said.

"I meant, you know, if we ever decided to, not that we would," he said quickly. Akane nodded slowly, a smile spreading across her face.

"You know, you might miss your girl half," Akane said quietly, choosing to leave his comment alone. For the moment. He waved her off.

"Not a chance. I;m gonna go take a bath, wash off the cursed water," he announced. He strutted out of her room, stepping lightly over Soun, who was sleeping outside their door, and strutted all the way to the bathroom. All the while he sang, "Never gonna be a girl again. Never gonna be a girl again."

Ranma stripped down, ran the hot water, and hopped into the tub.

And got the shock of his young life.

-----------------------

:: Ranma did just say marry, didn't he? That means he wants to. . . oh wow, that's sort of akward,:: Akane thought, changing from her pajamas into a school uniform. She felt so much better, completely rejuventated. Was that because she'd slept with Ranma? Or just because she'd felt so crappy the night before?

"ARRGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" came a scream from the bathroom. Akane, fastening the last button on the strap of her school uniform, ran down the hall and threw the bathroom door open. Soun and Genma were there in front of her, gaping. She pushed through them, thinking, he must be hurt, he must be hurt. . .

And she saw a familiar red head.

Ranko was standing in the tub of steaming water, staring down at her breasts as if she expected them to explode. She raised her shaking hands up to her face, those smaller hands, and screamed again, but this time there were words.

"DIRTY OLD GHOUL!" she screamed, clenching her hands into fists. Akane could only stand and gape at her. Ranma was supposed to be cured. . .

"What happened, son?" Genma shouted. Ranko glared at him.

"The dirty old ghoul did something to me," she fumed. Akane looked down at the steaming water and wondered; if Cologne had wanted the girl half dead, why would she make it so Ranma could never change back into a guy?

"Now you're trapped as a girl forever!" Soun gasped. Gemna grabbed his old friend by the collar and pulled him closer, glowering.

"My son is NOT!" he growled.

"Oh, just shut up!" Ranko cried, sitting down in the hot water dejectedly. "The old ghoul gave me some water from the Spring of Drowned Man, or so she said, to kill my girl half before she returned to China."

"WHAAAAAT?" Genma cried, then he rounded on Ranma. "You selfish, ungrateful boy! How could I have raised such an unkind son, to take all the water and never think about his poor aging father. . ."

"She just poured it on me, okay? And obviously it didn't work," Ranko shot back. Genma ignored him.

". . . who has never wanted anything but your happiness, who has slaved night and day. . . ." he continued, tears coming to his eyes. Akane ignored his rambling, and stepped over to the side of the tub. She knelt down at the edge.

"Ranma. . . Cologne wanted to kill your girl half, she was pretty serious about it. She wouldn't have given you something that would make you a girl forever," Akane said softly. Ranko exhaled sharply, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So why am I like this? Why aren't I a guy even sitting in the middle of a pool of hot water?" she asked, scornfully.

"Maybe. . . the two curses did something to each other. Maybe you had a reaction," Akane suggested. "Maybe something else will turn you back into a guy. . . ." she said softly. Ranko looked up, new hope on her face.

"Yeah, like what?" she asked, leaning towards Akane, who shook her head.

"I dunno, maybe. . . cold water?" she suggested, grasping at straws. Ranko vaulted out of the tub, jumping over Akane on her way to the showerhead hanging on the wall. She turned on the cold water, blasting herself full in the face with it and. . . .

Akane turned away, blushing. She'd seen Ranma naked before, but not . . . kneeling. And not quite so often in his boy form. She stood up hurridly, absently brushing at the drops of water that had fallen from Ranko's toes when she leapt over Akane.

"Akane, you're a lifesaver!" Ranma beamed, still very naked.

"Oh, ahh, you're welcome," Akane said, blushing. She ran out of the bathroom, past their bickering fathers and into the refuge of the hallway.

---------------------

"They're only children," Soun protested, glowering at Genma. The children in question had been sent off to school hours ago, and their father's hadn't stopped talking about them since. Genma nodded sagely, pushing his glasses further up his nose. Soun, for one, was getting a bit concerned about Genma. He'd only spent a few hours as a panda in the entire two weeks since Ranma and Akane eloped. The behavior was just so uncharacteristic. . . sort of like Happosai postponing his panty-raids to give Ranma those "lessons."

"I'm not saying I want grandkids right now, I'm just saying it isn't right for a wife to blush at the sight of her husband. Even if they don't actually do anything, they ought to be more comfortable with each other," Genma said. Soun sighed and looked out of the doors of the tea room, out into the koi pond. Genma was right. He just hated to think of his little girl, his youngest, his baby. . . . What would her mother say? ::Genma has it easy,:: Soun thought, :: He can think about Nodoka and himself and look at from the view of a husband. I can only see it as a father.::

"By the way, Soatome, where is Nodoka?" he asked, the sudden thought of her reminding him that he hadn't seen her in a while. Saotome laughed nervously.

"Oh, she's been coming and going recently," he informed Soun. They both laughed nervously then, and turned to look out at the koi pond. "Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to get them better acquainted. You know, give them a honeymoon of sorts," Genma said, clearing his throat.

"I don't know, Saotome," Soun hedged, thinking of the expense, thinking of reputation, thinking of. . . his daughter's marriage falling apart because she couldn't even look at her husband.

"Perhaps," he said softly.

------------------

"I don't have time for a lesson today," Akane protested, waving Nodoka off. The older woman had surprised her, walking home from school. Nodoka frowned at her.

"You are my new daughter-in-law, and I say you have time!" she announced. "If that little lecher can give my son lessons on how to make YOU happy, I certainly can give you lessons on how to make HIM happy," she announced. Akane groaned inwardly. This was like torture. Not only was Nodoka giving her for too many details about . . . well, about sex, but she was also giving Akane tips for prgenancy and birthing! And Ranma thought he had it rough with Happosai. . .

Just how did everyone know she and Ranma hadn't done anything?

"Hey, Akane, what's. . .. Mom?" a deep voice asked from above Akane's head. Nodoka fixed her son in a steely glare as Akane sighed in releif. Nodoka surely wouldn't want to give her any lessons with Ranma standing right there. Ranma jumped down from the fencerail, landing beside Akane. "What's up?" he asked.

"You have been lax in your husbandly duties," Nodoka announced, gathering Ranma into her icy glare.

"I WHAT?" he cried, stepping back a pace. He glared at Akane for a moment, as if he thought she was the one who;d told his mother. Surely he wasn't that thick?

"You have not even been sleeping in the same bed as your wife. A man should not be so shy of the one he loves," she announced. She glared at them both, evenly. "If you do not live up to your obilgations as a husband, you are not a worthy man."

"Not a worthy. . .. oh, hell," Ranma muttered. He shared a desperate look with Akane. If his mother started thinking he was an unworthy man, they would have a whole new set of very serious problems.

---------------

"So how long has my mother been giving you those lessons?" Ranma asked, pausing in front of the Tendo door. Akane shrugged.

"About as long as Happosai has been giving you yours," she said. He grinned maliciously.

"So what has Mom been teaching you?" he asked. Akane blushed.

"What has Happosai taught you?" she countered. Ranma grimaced and opened the door.

"We're home!" Ranma cried, kicking off his shoes. Kasumi came out into the entryway, smiling her angelic smile.

"Just in time! You two ought to go upstairs and start packing," she said, pleasantly.

"Packing? For what?" Akane asked.

"Your honeymoon! Father and Mr. Saotome have arranged a honeymoon for you, isn't it sweet? You have to be at the train station by eight, so you'd better get packing," she smiled, and walked back into the kitchen. Ranma and Akane stared at each other in shock.

"This was such a bad idea," Akane moaned, storming off upstairs. Ranma glared after her. As if he didn't have to put up with it too...


	6. Death of a Stubborn Woman

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Well, I own the old man, but only because he is such an uninteresting character no one else wanted him.

Chapter 6

Trees, bushes, and distant buildings flew by, outside the window of the train. Akane leaned against the window, watching her reflection pass over all the green landscape. Their fathers had arranged for them to go to a hotel on a beach, which Akane wasn't precisely grateful for. After all, it was the middle of April, the water would be cold and it was so close to the end of the year. . . She shuddered to think about the homework she was going to have to make up. What had prompted their fathers to send them to a beach, anyway? What was so romantic about a beach that was too cold to enjoy?

As for Ranma, he was staring blankly at a manga. He wasn't all too sure which manga it was, as he wasn't reading it. Occasionally he'd turn a page, just to keep up appearances. He was running out of pages. When he did, he wasn't sure what he'd do. If he started staring out the window like Akane, she might want to talk about the scenery. He really, really was not up for a conversation. Just what had that dumb panda been thinking? Didn't he know what the kids at school were going to say about this little honeymoon? And what would their fathers say later, when he and Akane announced they weren't actually married, that it had all been a hoax to get them off their backs. . . what would they say then? He could just imagine the rock they'd tie him to before throwing him in the ocean. At least now that the old ghoul had reversed his curse, he'd get to be drowned as a guy.

His mother's parting words echoed in his mind. She'd made it quite clear that everyone in the house thought he was some kind of eunuch or something, which he WASN'T, damnit, and that if they didn't start to hear some wall-pounding soon she was going to start agreeing with them. As much as it hurt his pride for people to think he was some sort of coward, he would survive. He wasn't really sure he would survive his mother thinking he wasn't enough of a man. In fact, he was almost sure he wouldn't.

He thought back to the original reasoning for this plan. Everyone was supposed to leave him alone. Everyone was supposed to be giving him room to make his own damn choices. And the more he tried to get free of them all, the more he was trapped. Under normal circumstances, he might have liked the chance for a week with just Akane. No meddling fiancés, no meddling fathers, no dirty old freaks. . . but now that he knew what awaited him at home, he couldn't enjoy it. Couldn't. When they got back, everyone would assume he and Akane had. . . well, on the other hand, if they thought the deed was done they might not make him and Akane sit through any more "lessons."

He stole a glance at his so-called wife. She looked like a cute little city girl, with her long skirt and white straw hat. The hat was resting on her lap, under her folded hands that had those ridiculous little white gloves on them. He looked at her left hand speculatively. If they were supposed to be married, shouldn't they have rings? He had a sneaking suspicion Nabiki had made Akane wear the gloves to hide her bare hand. After all, what would the hotel owners think about an unmarried couple of kids staying together for a week? During school, no less.

"What are you staring at?" Akane asked. Ranma blushed and looked away. She was about to call him a pervert again, he could just hear it coming.

"Your hands, neither of us have rings," he explained, deciding the truth was better than any lie he could think of.

"Well, of course we don't. We aren't actually married," Akane reminded him. He frowned at her. She was being uncharacteristically calm. Too calm. Something was up, and that never seemed to bode well for him.

"Yeah, but we are pretending to be," he replied, sighing. "I don't want people to think we're doing something wrong, people like the folks at the hotel."

"At the risk of sounding like Nabiki, we don't have money for rings. Stop worrying so much, this is going to be rough enough," Akane scolded. Ranma sighed and leaned back, tucking his hands behind his head. Yep, she was definitely up to something. He glanced over at her, careful to only turn his eyes, not his head. She was looking out the window again. Honestly.

He stared at her out of the corner of his eye for a while. She was acting too nice. Way, way too nice. What could she be plotting? As the miles flew by, he got more and more nervous. At last, he couldn't take it any more. He had to find out what she was plotting. She hadn't said a cross word to him since they'd left the house, not even when Kodachi had shown up for one last, desperate try. Either someone had drugged her, or she was plotting his demise. He suspected the former, but the latter was nowhere near an impossibility. He decided he'd have to test her, see if there was ANYTHING that would get her mad. He braced himself to fly through the roof, and stood up.

"Akane," he said, as if issuing a challenge. She looked up at him, a small smile on her face. He knelt in front of her, taking the hat off her lap. He leaned towards her, meeting her amused gaze. That wasn't right. Akane was often confused or infuriated by him, but hardly ever amused. She knew something he didn't.

He looked at her, leaning closer, his eyes on those brown eyes and the curving pink lips below them. Close, now. Now was when people always interrupted. Now was when something always went wrong. And he suspected that if he actually tried this, he'd get the reaction he'd always come to expect from Akane. After all, the other two times she'd been dazed, from his so-called admission of love and from the truth about Ryouga. She wasn't dazed this time. He paused, his face so close to Akane's that he could feel her breath on his face. From here, her eyes faded in and out, sometimes she was a cyclops and sometimes she looked normal, everything in between a blur that dizzied him. He was about to pull away, chicken out, when the most astonishing thing happened.

Akane sighed, her warm, moist breath hitting his lips as she closed the distance between them. Her lips brushed his, the very first touch, the lightest touch, and it sent a jolt of shock through him. Warm and soft, she was suddenly in his arms, her own gloved hands on his shoulders. He pulled her closer, his lips crushing hers until they opened to him.

He felt the shock of her mouth under his, not a shock of surprise this time but something else. . . it went all the way down to. . .

With a gasp, Ranma tore himself away from Akane. They stared at each other, speechless, for what seemed an eternity. ::What was that all about? I felt like I was made of fire! What WAS that anyway, chi kissing or something?:: Ranma thought. At long last, Akane smiled at him. The smile sent a shock through him almost as violent as that last one. She'd started that. Akane had. . . had kissed him. His head was spinning. He wasn't entirely sure he could process that information.

And she was DEFINITELY plotting something!

He realized that they were still only a few inches apart, and he jumped backwards. In the process, he hit his head on the edge of a seat across from Akane, and he swore, loudly. He opened his eyes to the sound of her laughter. He scowled at her.

"What was that?" he asked, for lack of something better to say. Akane just laughed harder at him. He felt like his pride, which had been inflated by the kiss, was being cut to pieces.

"Well, if we're pretending to be married we ought to at least be able to kiss!" Akane laughed, picking up her hat and twirling it in her hand. She fixed him with a triumphant smile. He blinked at her. Was she. . . had she won something? Sometimes he wished women would just start speaking Japanese!

"Akane, just what are you so smug about?" he asked, finally giving in and just ASKING. She plopped the hat down on her head and smiled at him, a sweet little smile that reminded him of just how her lips had felt on his. He blushed.

"Well, after a kiss like that, I'm sort of insulted that you aren't!" she replied. He blushed even deeper, and she laughed at him. "Hey, what sort of food do you think they'll have at this hotel? I think it's in a real small town, they might not have any good places to eat!" she said rapidly. Ranma blinked at her, and his blush faded. Food. He could handle food.

Akane wasn't really listening to him stutter some inane reply, her mind was too full of the glow of victory. Nodoka had been right! The older woman's parting words echoed in her head.

You can't compete with my son in martial arts or domestic arts, so stop trying to win that way. I know, I know, you don't think you have anything to prove but from eh way you act something in you disagrees. The only way for you to defeat my son is for you to take up your role as a woman and a wife, confuse him with kindness and persuade him with passion.

And she had thought it wouldn't work! But there he was, the cool little martial artist, stumbling over his words and unable to make the blush fade completely. He was outwitted, outmanned, outkissed. She had won her very first battle ever with Ranma Saotome.

And the beauty of it was he was completely ignorant. As usual.

----------------------

"They didn't send us here, surely!" Akane gasped, looking at the old hotel they were standing in front of. It was built in the western style, with an old wooden porch out front covered in swings and rocking chairs. She thought the place might have been nice and unique- thirty years ago. What was more, they were in a section of the beach that wasn't beach at all. All there was between them and the ocean was a bunch of rocks, covered in ocean spray.

The hotel itself had once been painted blue. Akane wasn't sure precisely when it had been painted blue, but she was fairly sure that was the original intent. The hotel was only two stories tall, and most of the windows were dark. She doubted very much if they were even open.

"Well, howdy!" a voice range out to her left. She turned to see an old man walking towards them, dressed in old jeans and a flannel shirt. She suddenly felt very out of place, with her white gloves and pretty hat. She heard a grunt as Ranma shifted some of the bags behind her. There were only four, a good martial artist like him should not even be breaking a sweat for four bags. Regardless of size.

"Hello there. Are you the proprietor of this place?" Akane asked politely. Ranma groaned again behind her, but she did her best to ignore him. The old man nodded, and his face broke out into a smile that creased his entire head.

"You two must be the newlyweds! Come on in, your room is all ready. Can't say as I was fixin' to open the place so early in the season, but there was a very persuasive woman talking to me," he chuckled at the memory. Akane remembered Nabiki's rage at the expense of a honeymoon, and she wasn't surprised that Nabiki had somehow persuaded this man to open his hotel early. Anything to save some yen. She was just surprised Nabiki had ever heard of the place. Akane and Ranma followed the old man to their room, smiled and nodded at his behest that they ask him for anything they needed, and watched the door shut.

"Just what in hell is in all these bags!?" Ranma hissed, once the door was safely closed. "Only one of them is mine!"

"Don't be ridiculous, only one of them is mine! The other three have to be yours!" Akane hissed back. They stared at each other for just a moment, then each grabbed one of the extra bags and opened it.

"Dear Akane, thought you might get bored," Ranma read aloud, handing the note at the top of the bag to Akane. She read it, then tossed it behind her, nonchalant. Ranma, however, was going to have a long time before he could be nonchalant ever again.

The bag was full of whips, handcuffs, even a few bodices. And just what was that big purple stick for? He could see a lot of little strange devices he could not devise a use for. He turned to Akane, blushing for all he was worth. She leaned over and read the letters taped to the inside of the upper flap of the bag.

"Do not break, most is borrowed?" she read aloud. She looked with apprehension at the huge purple stick. Just what was borrowed?

"Akane, what was in your bag?" Ranma asked, his voice annoyed and curious. Akane picked up the flap of her bag. It was the smallest bag they'd brought. On the inside of the top flap was another note.

"Wedding gifts to keep," Ranma read aloud, somewhat stunned. The bag was full of tiny bottles, condoms. . . he felt anger rising in him until he saw the boxes. After all, two bags of sex accessories are not good wedding gifts! But also inside the bag were two ornate boxes, one the size of a garlic clove and the other the size of a softball. Akane picked up the larger box first, and Ranma leaned over her shoulder to see what was in the box.

"Oh, hell," Akane muttered, pulling a tiny ceramic turtle out of the box. Tears began to well in her eyes. Ranma looked down into the box, and all he saw was a half-empty container full of old broken toys and little slips of paper.

"What's that?" he asked. Akane wiped her eyes and put the turtle back in the box. She closed it, and set it aside.

"My mother kept little memory boxes for all of us when we were babies. She put all the toys we outgrew in there, and all her wishes for us. Mine is the most empty, because she had less time to fill it," Akane replied, quietly. "I'd rather look at that alone."

"If you want," Ranma said lightly, frowning furiously into the box. What was a dead mother's memory box doing in a bag full of sex stuff? He was going to have to get Nabiki for this when they got back.

He picked up and opened the smaller box with a sigh, expecting something equally sacrilegious. Instead, there were two simple, plain, sliver rings. He stared at them.

"Hey Akane, take a look," he said, shoving the box under her nose. She gasped, taking the box from him.

"Rings!" she said. Inside the box were two plain, simple silver rings. She picked up the smallest one, and held it up to the light. "Silver for purity," she said softly. Ranma snorted.

"More like silver for cheapskates," he said, taking the small ring from her. He took her left hand, and slid the glove off it. Akane looked down, suddenly shy, as he slid the smaller ring onto her left ring finger. "With this ring, I thee wed," he smiled, jokingly. They stared at each other in silence for a long moment, then shared an uncomfortable laugh.

--------------------

Akane opened the cracked wooden door that led from the bathroom to her room. Well, not her room, more like their room. Ranma was already lying on the only bed, spread out on his back. His eyes were closed. Akane stood in the doorway for a moment, her hair wet from the shower she'd just taken, unsure of what to do. No matter if they were supposed to be married, no matter if she could feel the ring heavy on her finger, they weren't REALLY married and a large part of her was really uncomfortable with this.

Besides, if he already had the bed, where was she going to sleep? Fair was fair, and she supposed she had a few nights on the floor coming for all those nights he'd spent on hers, but. . . oh, well. She'd survive a night away from nice, warm, soft beds. If Ranma could do it, she certainly could.

She wasn't tired yet, and she wasn't really sure how he could be. All they'd done was eat and look out the window at the ocean. She could still hear it, beating the black rocks below their window. Their window. Their room. Hell.

She picked up the clothes she'd worn into the bathroom, hanging them up in the small closet. She stood there, fiddling with the buttons on her pajamas, unsure of what to do. Then she remembered the memory box. She picked it up out of the bag it was still sitting in, tucked away in a corner of the room. She sat down on the floor, and opened it slowly.

Hesitantly, she picked up the small ceramic turtle again. She remembered this toy, at least. When she was very small, she used to talk to it, carrying it around with her everywhere in her tiny, pudgy fingers. It was tied so closely to a memory of her mother's face, one of the few clear memories, she had. That was the day Nabiki had broken all the eggs in the refrigerator, because someone had told her eggs contained candy and money. Her father had yelled at her, but their mother just laughed at them all and explained that only special, plastic eggs could contain candy and money, and that those belonged to a holiday they didn't celebrate too often. Then, still laughing, she'd made Nabiki clean everything up. Not just the eggs, but the entire kitchen. It took her all day, since she was so young. She couldn't have been older than five. Akane could still remember the look on her sister's face, could still remember telling her that the turtle thought she looked very silly. Nabiki hadn't taken that well.

Akane put the turtle back, and picked up one of the slips of paper. It was just a ragged sheet with rough edges, ripped off something else. She unfolded it.

I wish for Akane to grow up to be a world-class chef, the paper read. Akane laughed out loud. Just how young was she when her mother wished for that? She picked up and unfolded another piece of paper.

I wish for Akane to have seven daughters, every one of them as stubborn and rough as she is, the paper read.

I wish Akane would fall in love with a man I can approve of. I know Soun has some silly idea about one of the girls marrying the Saotome boy, but I am so afraid he will grow up to be like his father! Poor, poor Nodoka. If only her mother had known. If only her mother could see, right now, her youngest daughter in a hotel room with that very Saotome boy! What would she say?

On the other hand, Ranma wasn't quite like his father. He wasn't worthless, and he wasn't a coward. And in his own way, he could be very sweet. . . Could be. And he was honest, he was handsome, he was. . . a sex- changing jerk that always had other girls hanging all over him. But he was putting a stop to that, wasn't he? By pretending to be married to her, by sleeping on her floor every night, he was saying he chose her over everybody else. Despite her lack of cooking skills. Despite her stubbornness, her roughness as he mother had put it. Despite their fighting.

But, given a real choice, who would she have chosen? She'd never really had that choice, not the way Ranma did. All the women chasing him were nice to him. All the men who had chased her were trying to beat her up. Trying to "win" her by beating her into a bloody pulp, the way she had to beat them. And then Ranma had shown up, Ranma who so obviously could have "won" her if he wanted to. But he'd never tried. He'd never participated in Kuno's sick little fighting game.

At first, she'd thought that it was because he really hated her. Because he really did think she was ugly, too rough, too macho, too much of a tomboy. But, he didn't hate her. He didn't think she was ugly. Maybe he had at one point, but. . . he obviously didn't anymore. She'd always felt so blasted intimidated by him. He was the better fighter, the better cook, the better freaking everything except student. That was what had prompted Nodoka's advice to be sweet and passionate with him, it was the only way she could gain equal footing. Really, since she was expected to inherit a training hall, who cared what sort of grades she got? She had no real, pressing desire to go to college.

She folded the paper back up, and closed the memory box. She wasn't in the proper frame of mind to look through it anyway. She might stumble across something about her and college, and she didn't really want to think about that. What would she do in college, what would she study? None of her schoolwork really interested her. She was much, much more interested in the dojo, that was why she was the logical choice to inherit it. Nabiki would do so well as a businesswoman, and Kasumi seemed happiest just being a homemaker.

But who would she have chosen? She forced her mind back to that topic, sensing that it would nag at her until she figured it out.

For quite some time now, she'd spent most of her waking hours with Ranma. She hadn't even thought about it, but it was true. He was the person she asked to go shopping with her, the person she saw the most movies with, walked home most with, had little adventures most with. And whenever they fought so much they wouldn't speak to each other, or whenever he was away to train, she felt his absence strongly. She missed him even when he was only gone for a few days. Honestly, she probably missed fighting with him the most. Fighting beside him, not with him. That was fun, and a nice release, and no one fought back quite as well as Ranma. . . but still.

She realized with a start that the one choice she thought was her own, and only her own, wasn't under her control at all. She'd thought that, no matter what her father wanted, no matter what she was forced to do, she could govern her own heart. But she'd been wrong. For the entire time she'd known Ranma, her heart had quietly been making her choices for her. Very quietly. So quietly she hadn't really noticed it was happening, but now that she thought about it. . . That was why she always got so jealous, that was why she always worried over him, the ignorant, inconsiderate ass. She was in love with Ranma. There. She'd said it, if only in her own head. And she was definitely not happy about it. Of all the men to fall in love with. . .

-----------------------

Ranma woke up the next morning in a big, empty bed. He stretched, yawning, and sat up. It took him a moment to realize where he was, and with who. He looked around the room for her. She hadn't joined him in the bed, the other pillow was still round and fluffed. He wasn't really surprised. But where was she? She wasn't in the room, and the bathroom door was open. He hopped out of bed and changed quickly. Stupid Akane, not letting him know where she was, anything could happen to her. . . He slipped on his shoes and ran out the door.

Down the stairs, the old man who was in charge of the hotel was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Akane, but then he hadn't expected her to do something sensible like stay where he could find her. What was she thinking, going out without him in a strange place! Who knew what sort of people lived around here! He left through the front door, forcing himself to walk.

The old man was on the front porch, reading a newspaper in a rocking chair.

"Have you seen my. . . wife?" Ranma asked, stumbling over the word. The old man gave him a sly look, and pointed towards the beach.

"Little lady went out about an hour ago. Said she was having trouble sleeping," he said, winking at Ranma. Ranma took off running toward the rocky beach. She was such a klutz, she'd probably slipped on one of the rocks and fallen into the ocean.

He got to the black rocks, and skidded to a stop. No Akane. He looked up and down the beach, his eyes scanning for anything that could possibly be Akane. He caught a flash of dark blue, and went running towards it. A scarf. The flash of blue was Akane's scarf. He picked it up, his hands shaking now. The little idiot really had fallen into the ocean.

"AKANE!" he screamed, looking out over the rough waves for her. No sign of her. No more flashes of color on the beach, no dark-blue head bobbing in the water. She was gone. She was absolutely gone. He sat down on the black rocks, not even noticing the salty spray that splashed on his face. She was gone. Akane couldn't swim even in a pool, there was no way she could swim in this.

Glaring out at the ocean, he tossed the scarf down and dove into the white-flecked water. He opened his eyes underneath, ignoring the sting of the salt in his eyes, and searched for her. Anything, even a still body, would have been better than nothing. He searched underwater for her until his lungs felt like they would explode, came up for air, and searched for her again. He lost count of the times he went back down into the cold, dark, salty water.

Eventually, he gave up. He crawled out onto the black rocks, crying through eyes blinded by the salt water. The silver ring felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Noon had long since come and gone when the old man found him by the ocean, still crying salted tears.


	7. Mousse the Monster

Disclaimer: You all know who owns what.

Chpt 7

"You cannot be the man who marries Shampoo," Cologne said firmly. Mousse glared at her, digging his fingernails into his knees as he did so. He would not, could not, attack a village elder. That was death.

"So that big stupid lummox YOU want her to marry is a great choice!" he shouted. Cologne's eyes narrowed dangerously. Mousse sat on the dirt floor of his little hut, his knees carefully folded under him, his head bowed to show respect. Only his eyes, glaring up at her from his seemingly subserviant position, betrayed his feelings. The boy had spent too much time in Japan. He was forgetting the natural place of a male.

"Shampoo is holding her tribe back, none of her younger sisters can marry until she does. It is necessary," she stated flatly. There are no moon-beams in the real world, sonny, get over her, she thought.

"So WHY can't the groom be me!" Mousse shouted, losing a bit of his control. Cologne hit him over the head, almost as an afterhtought. A male may never raise his voice to an elder.

"Because you are not strong enough to be her husband!" Cologne snapped.

"I can prove my worth," he claimed, his voice low and dangerous. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"There is nothing you can do to . . ."

"I can take the Mizuki challenge," he said. Cologne shook her head. She saw his eyes dart to the wall behind her, where all of his weapons lay in a neat pile. There were quite a few scrolls there, as well. So the boy had been practicing. Good for him. Why should she care?

"The Mizuki challenge has to take place at Jusenkyo. That place is too dangerous now, it is flooded and who knows how mixed curses behave! You could be obliterated, you could be forced into some monstrous form and stuck in it!"

"Or I could be cured completely. It doesn't matter. I'd rather die than have to live knowing that idiot you chose sleeps in Shampoo's bed," he said, bravely, his voice deathly serious. Cologne regarded him for a moment, then sighed.

"All right. Since you are so persistant, you can take the Mizuki challenge. Good luck finding someone to fight you over the cursed springs," she said. The Mizuki challenge was famous in her tribe. It was a classic way for men to prove their worth, a fight to the death over the cursed waters of Jusenkyo. She didn't think Mousse had murder in him, but then, maybe his plan was to be the loser. Maybe that was the way he'd chosen to die.

Either way, she really wished she could take them all back to Japan, back to the days of carefree laughter and mind games. . .

-----------------------

Mousse snarled as the skies opened and rain began to pour down on Jusenkyo. The cold, hard droplets hit his head, his shoulders, and he could feel himself begin to change. Just as his body began to twist, his challenger lunged at him. The man Cologne had chosen to marry Shampoo was big, and strong, and good at battle tactics. On the other hand, he apparently didn't know about Mousse's curse. Which gave Mousse a definite advantage.

By the time Shampoo's groom to be got to him, he was already a duck. He flew down below the pole, quacking triumphantly as the big lummox lost his balance, began to fall. . . and grabbed Mousse's wing on the way down.

In moments, the prospective groom was knocked out of the running. He was lying very still in the mixed, cursed waters of Jusenkyo, a tiny dog with his temple crushed in. He was dead. Mousse, who was lying beside him in the dimpling, rippling water, had won. On the other hand, now he was a monster.

--------------------

"Passionate Amazons," Mousse said mockingly, almost hissing under his breath. Fifteen days had passed since he'd left Japan for China, and he'd thought he'd never see these cursed islands again. Yet, here he was, back in Japan, chasing down the same stupid people for the same stupid reasons.

Three days had passed since he'd last seen Shampoo. After the fight, she'd come to him, an unwilling bride but a bride nonetheless. They had been married as soon as he'd changed out of his monstrous form, back into a man. Now, her sisters were free to marry. They were free to have more daughters for the tribe.

It was only a marriage in name, however. She refused to look at him, refused to speak with him, and certainly refused to acknowledge his rights as a husband. All she did all day was cry and train and cook, cry and train and cook. When he'd finally asked just what she wanted him to do to prove his love, she'd smiled THAT smile. The snide smile. The smile that frightened him the most.

Defeat Ranma, she'd said. And make Akane bleed for what she did to me.

So, unable to think of what else to do, he'd hopped on the next plane to Japan. It was a tiny plane, a cargo plane, and it was only going as far as the near coast of Japan. So here he was, on this stupid rocky excuse for a beach, wondering how in hell he'd get to Tokyo. He could walk, certainly. And it looked like he would have to. He didn't have much Japanese yen left.

A young woman, sitting on a rock, letting the spray hit her, was getting slowly closer to him. He thought she looked terribly familiar. He quickened his pace, and as she got closer he smiled a tiny, triumphant smile. Akane Tendo. Or rather, Akane Saotome. Ranma's little wife, all out on the rocks alone. . . it was perfect. He absolutely couldn't believe his luck.

"Akane?" he asked, almost afraid he was wrong. She looked up at him, surprise covering her delicate features. He remembered back in Saffron's cave. . . but he had Shampoo. He had the woman he'd always wanted. All he had to do now was convince her she loved him.

"Mousse? What are you doing in Japan?" she asked. He got closer to her as she stood.

"I'm looking for Ranma, actually. Is he around here?" Mousse asked, smiling nervously. She nodded, frowning.

"Yes, he's in our room," she said, gesturing toward an open window in the building behind her, "but why would you want to fight him? Surely Shampoo doesn't still insist you beat him!" she said. He was so close now, he could see the pressure point. . . he was within an arms reach. .

"Forgive me, Akane," he said, his hand striking at a point at the base of her skull. She crumpled, and he caught her, avoiding the cold, salty ocean spray. Everyone falls victim to Cologne's famous pressure point. . .He had almost three hours until she would awake again. By that time, he fully planned to have laid a trap for Ranma.

--------------------

Hours later, having spent most of the day looking underwater for Akane's body, Ranma was sitting in the kitchen of the hotel. The old man had wrapped a blanket around him, and put a cup of hot tea down in front of him. Ranma hadn't really noticed. He was just staring out into space, clutching the scarf in his hand. He'd thought she was dead once before, and it was just too cruel of fate to do this to him again. . .

"You ain't helping her none sitting here," the old man said, pushing the cup pf hot tea closer. Ranma curled deeper into himself. Akane was way beyond his help. His eyes traced the pale lines that scarred the old wooden table.

"She can't swim," he said quietly. The old man snorted.

"Wouldn't need to. She ain't drowned, you little fool, she's been taken by the witches that live up the coast. They've a taste for pretty young women. Usually go after the virgins, though," he said speculatively. Ranma arose out of his reverie a bit to glare at the old man. Spouting such nonsense at a time like this. . .

"Shut up and leave me alone," he snarled. The old man narrowed his eyes.

"You're a coward, boy. Your wife, your WIFE, damnit, could be out there somewhere and you're just gonna sit here and let heaven-only-knows- what happen to her. You're willing to give up all hope just because you found a stinking scarf! You didn't even find a body!" he shouted.

"I am no coward!" Ranma retorted. A small worm of hope had taken root in his heart. It was true, he hadn't found a body. And if what the old man said was true, if it wasn't too late. . .

"Where would she be?" he asked, still glowering at the old caretaker.

"North along the coast two miles. There's an old house, couple of old women live there. They like to drink the blood of pretty young women, it increases their magic powers. They seem real nice, but don't let them fool you. They're witches," he said, nodding sagely. Ranma took a deep, bracing breath. Stranger things had happened. . . . who was he to say that witches don't exist? If giant koalas, sex-changing freaks and martial arts cheerleading existed, why not witches?

"I suppose I'll be going, then," Ranma announced, standing up. The blanket fell from his shoulders as he ran out the kitchen door.

"Hey! It's too cold to run around in wet clothes!" the old caretaker shouted after him.

Ranma ran along the rocky beach. Two miles, the old man had said, only two miles. She might be alive, she might be in the house that was two miles north along the shore. He ran on. Lights emerged in the distance, out of the falling dusk. The house! He ran faster, faster, until he reached the white-washed front steps, until he reached the faded front door. He pounded on it, splintering the wood.

"Open up!" he cried, long past courtesy. Lights came on all over the house, and the door swung open. An old woman, her head covered in tight white curls, opened the door. She glared up at him with fiery gray eyes.

"What the hell is your problem?" she snapped. He looked down at her, somewhat speechless. Now that he was actually here, staring at a real person, he had no idea what to say.

"I'm, ah, looking for my . . . wife," he said at long last. The old woman didn't look like a witch. . . and really, compared to Happosai and Cologne she was a teenager.

"And what makes you think I know where she is?" the old woman glared at him.

"The old man who takes care of the hotel. . . "

"Told you I was a witch, eh? Let me guess, I stole her to bathe in her blood and make myself young again?" the old woman said, her voice full of scorn. The little worm of hope in Ranma's heart began to die again. There was still the body, though. He hadn't been able to find a body, and the current wasn't strong enough to have carried it very far. . . at least, not when he'd first started searching.

"Not exactly. More along the lines of drinking her blood than bathing in it," he said, reflecting that it really did sound very silly out loud. He was about to turn around and leave, but he could just hear Akane's voice in his head, calling him a quitter. "Why would he say something like that?" he asked, somewhat embarrassed he'd believed the tale.

"My husband and I have a few key issues we disagree on," the old woman said primly. Ranma's jaw dropped.

"Your husband?" he asked, remembering the old caretaker.

"Oh, yes. Old Miraku and I have been married for forty years. Of course, we haven't lived under the same roof for the last thirty of those years. He's a bloody idiot, that's what he is," she snarled. "Miraku and I had a lot of suitors, between us we had half our village trying to drag one of us to the altar. But we had an arranged marriage, you see. We got married to appease our parents. Of course, I loved him when we got married, and he loved me. But we kept fighting all the time. . ." she waved her hand in dismissal, as if none of that mattered anymore.

"Is that why he said you were a witch?" Ranma asked. There were a lot of uncomfortable parallels to his own life in the old woman's story . . .

"Heavens, no. He said I was a witch because I can tell the future. He calls my sister that too, but all she can do is find things," the old woman said. Ranma felt an idea explode in his mind with all the violence of the crashing ocean.

"Could she find Akane?" Ranma asked, grabbing the old woman by the shoulders. She fixed him with a stare so cold and harsh that he let go.

"Perhaps. Why don't you come on in and ask her?" she said coolly. She stood aside to let him in. "Kaya! Someone wants to see you."

Another old woman, identical to Miraku's wife except for the long, thick white braid hanging down her back, emerged from a door to Ranma's left. The front door closed behind him.

"This young man here seems to have misplaced a wife," Miraku's wife said, patting him on the shoulder. Kaya snorted.

"Men," she said, the one word full of venom. She looked Ranma up and down, from his bare feet (he'd lost the shoes in the ocean) to his sopping head. "Well, come on then. Can't very well find her without my pools," she announced. Before he could question that, Ranma was led back into the room on the left.

Inside, the light from a few dozen candles illuminated a room full of water. It collected in pools, flowing down slowly from the far end of the room. The entire floor was covered with an enormous fountain, where the water dripped from one stone ring into another. In between the stone rings there were broad, flat stones arranged so one could sit or stand among the pools. It all smelt of brine, everything was sea water.

"What is this place?" Ranma asked, his voice full of wonder. Kaya snorted derisively.

"I should think it obvious. This is the reason Miraku gave for leaving my sister," Kaya announced, "This is the Room of Pools. We can see things in the water. This is where my sister sees the future, it is where I find what is lost. Follow," she barked, stepping lightly onto the closest stepping stone. Ranma obeyed, following her until they reached what he thought was a rather ordinary stone circle. Kaya peered intently into the water. All Ranma could see were lights and shadows from the candles in the wall sconces, but she kept muttering to herself. At long last she looked up at him, her pupils strangely dilated, a look of fury on her face.

"You little shit, you don't have a wife!" she cried. He held up his hands, grimacing. Perhaps the old women weren't kooks?

"No, no, we're pretending to be married so our families will get off our backs. And. . all my other fiancés. Akane and I are engaged, we aren't married," he said. Kaya was glaring at him so hard he thought his hair was going to catch fire.

"You lied to me," she snarled.

"I've been lying to everybody. That isn't important now! Can you help me find her or not!" he shouted. Kaya growled at him. She turned away, looking back into the water.

"No, I can't. I've never met her, there's no blood ties between you, and no oaths. I cannot trace anything from you to her without one of those three things. Sorry," she muttered.

"Some witch you are!" Ranma cried. He looked down into the water, feeling despair welling up again. A cool hand touched his arm, and he looked up. Kaya was staring at him intently.

"Have you ever risked your life for her?" she asked.

"Yeah, a lot, not that she's grateful or nothin'," he muttered.

"And has she risked hers for you?" Kaya continued. Ranma thought of Saffron's cave.

"Yes," he said, eyeing the old woman suspiciously. Kaya took a deep breath.

"And do you love her? Do you ache to be with her right now?" she asked. Ranma glared at her.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" he asked, beginning to get angry now.

"I might be able to do something, but it is dependent upon you loving each other," she snarled, smacking the back of his head. The touch was gentle compared to Akane's. "I wouldn't be able to give an exact location, but I could give you a general idea of how she was, who she's with, that sort of thing. But it won't work unless you both are aching to be with each other. That's all I've got to trace, so freaking take it or leave it!" the old woman snapped. Ranma glowered at her for a minute.

"Well, shit," he said at long last. Kaya nodded.

"Yeeeess. Shit. So are you taking or leaving?" she asked. Ranma looked down at the old woman speculatively. If she could find Akane. . . that was the top priority, the main idea. He couldn't do anything else before she was found, because everything from sleeping to going home depended on him knowing where she was. If she was alive at all.

"Now I'm warning you, this might not work. If she doesn't happen to be thinking of you right now, or if she's angry with you . . . and if it does work, it's going to be quite a shock. Sometimes people's hearts stop, which is why I asked about you two risking your lives for each other," Kaya explained. Ranma nodded. ::I'm young, my heart is nowhere near as likely to stop as this old lady's,:: he thought.

"Okay, then," Kaya sighed. She put one hand on Ranma's chest and extended the other one towards the pool of water. "Yearn for her. Think about her, think about holding her in your arms again. Yearn for that," Kaya instructed. Ranma closed his eyes and did his best to do as he was told.

He thought of the only night he'd spent in her bed, he thought of the only kiss she'd given him. Images flashed through his mind of her smiling, of her crying, of the ruined wedding. He could see her angry face, that pretty skin furrowed and marred. And he could smell her, could smell the lavender. He had to see her again, he couldn't live without seeing her, talking to her, fighting with her. She was always with him, always next to him, so what could he do if she wasn't there anymore?

He felt a jolt, as if he'd been hit by lightening, and suddenly he could see her. He could see Akane, her hair messy and her eyes furrowed in anger. She was gagged, and tied down. For a moment he could see through her eyes, see what she could see and feel her heartbeat. . . and then there was a second where his heart felt like it could never get the energy to beat again. . .

He opened his eyes, gasping for breath. Kaya was standing next to him, her hands fallen to her sides, her eyes closed. His mind was full of joy and anger. She was alive! She was alive, so why the bleeding hell had she made him worry so much!

"Kaya! Kaya, are you all right?" he asked, shaking the old woman's shoulders. She shook her head as if to clear it, and gazed up at him with strange, dilated eyes.

"You know, that's never worked quite so well before. Gives me a hell of a headache," she said, smiling faintly. She shook her head again, as if it were coated in cobwebs she couldn't quite get rid of. "Well, did you see anything helpful?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "I know exactly where she is." He'd recognized the room immediately. The only thing that was out of place, aside from his bound fiancé, was the man standing by the door, the man with long black hair and big round glasses.

Mousse was a dead man.

---------------------------

"What can possibly be taking him so long?" Mousse sighed, exasperated. Akane glared at him from the bed. He'd found a bag of bondage gear in the room she'd pointed out, and it had been most helpful in tying her up. He hadn't expected the bonds to have to last this long. When he'd hopped through the window, the door to the room was just swinging shut. He'd assumed that since Ranma had just left, he would be back shortly. He had assumed Ranma would look in his own blasted hotel room before going anywhere else.

Apparently, he had been wrong. He'd picked Akane up just a few hours after dawn, and now there were stars rising over the ocean. He couldn't wait much longer! He was hungry, damnit!

"If Ranma gets back before I do, let him know I'm looking for him," he said cheerfully to the bound Akane. She just glared at him. He strode over to the open window, and leapt out onto the rocky beach.

If Ranma wasn't going to join the party on his own, Mousse was just going to have to invite him personally.

--------------------------

"Miraku!" Ranma shouted, hitting the front porch. The old man was still out there, reading again by the dim light of a bug zapper. He looked up as Ranma approached.

"How were the witches?" he asked, casually. Ranma strode up and snatched the newspaper out of his hands.

"Akane has been in our room the entire time! With her kidnapper! Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Ranma snarled. Miraku looked at him in confusion.

"But how could anyone have gotten in? I've been on the porch all day, except when I was fishing your sorry self out of the ocean," Miraku whined. Ranma's eyes widened.

"The window! We left the window open!" he cried, mentally cursing the collective stupidity of everyone within a three mile radius. He ran into the building, racing down to their room. Their room, where Akane lay bound and gagged, and Mousse was waiting for his execution. Miraku followed him at a more leisurely pace.

Ranma hit the door and kept going. It was a western-style door, and the catch hadn't quite caught, so it swung open easily against his shoulder. And there, across from the door, handcuffed to the bed and gagged with a silk scarf, was Akane. Relief filled him, and was quickly chased out by anger.

He strode over to the bed, and ungagged her. She took a shaky breath, then glared up at him.

"What took you so long!" she cried.

"I have been searching for your dead body all day! What were you thinking, going out alone like that! Anything could have happened to you! Shit, something DID happen to you! And all day long, I've been thinking you were dead, worried out of my mind, all because you were too bloody stupid to wake me up before you went out to cheat death! Slippery rocks, Akane! Slippery rocks and a girl who swims about as well as an ostrich do NOT mix well!" he shouted back. They glared at each other for a moment, and that moment is precisely when Miraku arrived in the doorway.

"Oh wow, handcuffs," he said, not terribly helpfully.

"And you could have broken out of these!" Ranma glared, pointing at the handcuffs. Akane glared back.

"Yes, and then what, you freaking idiot? Have Mousse tie me down with something stronger? He hasn't left all day!" she shouted back, her own eyes snapping with anger. Ranma looked around the room.

"Well, he isn't here now! So what were you waiting for, you stupid stubborn. . ."

"YOU! I was waiting for YOU! What took you so blasted long to get to your own hotel room!" she shouted, tears springing into her eyes. A little bit of the anger faded from Ranma's eyes and he stared at her helplessly for a moment. She continued, however, blinking back the tears. "He just left right before you got here. It's the first time he's left me alone all day," she glowered up at Ranma. Behind him, Miraku cleared his throat loudly.

"It's hardly civil to carry on this discussion when the lady is tied to a bed," he said, stepping forward. Ranma turned to glare at him, and Miraku wilted under the weight of that gaze. Slowly, as if in some dream, Ranma retrieved the keys to the handcuffs, laid carelessly down on the windowsill. He freed Akane, and they simply stared at each other for a very long moment. At last, Akane drew a shaky breath and looked away.

"I didn't want to wake you," she said softly. Ranma could feel a helpless, inarticulate rage building up inside him.

"What would make you think I'd rather snore longer and wake up not knowing where the hell you were?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous, almost pained. Akane opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. "Where is Mousse now?" he asked, a very, very frightening glint in his eye.

"He. . . went to go find you. Just a moment ago. . . he left through the window," she said, gesturing towards it. Without another word, Ranma leapt out into the night. Akane glared after him for a moment, then began to untie the silk rope wound around her feet. Miraku, slowly, moved to help her. He reached her just as she tossed the rope off to the side, just as they heard Ranma's roar over the waves.

"MOUSSE! Get back here so I can VAPORIZE YOU!"


	8. Witchy Women

Disclaimer: Some of these characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. About half, I should say.

Chapter 8

Akane leapt off the bed and rushed to the window. She could see a vague outline of a man on the beach, jumping from rock to rock. Ranma. Her heart lurched in her chest. No, Ranma didn't know, Ranma couldn't fight Mousse unless he knew about the new transformation . . .She jumped out the window after him and yelped painfully as her ankle twisted, not quite holding her weight.

"Ranma! Wait! You can't fight Mousse yet! He fell into Jusenkyo again, and he's a monster!" She screamed. He didn't even acknowledge her, but then she could hardly see him anymore. She took off after him at a dead run, ignoring the pain in her ankle.

"Young lady! That is a bad idea! Bad! Bad bad bad bad!" old Miraku shouted after her. She ignored him. She could see Ranma now, the moon was almost full and the light glinting off the ocean illuminated him, just barely, so he looked like a shadow. And then another shadow joined him. Akane ran faster, faster as the first blows were exchanged, and the combatants plunged into the sea together.

"RANMAAAA!" she screamed. Stupid, stupid man!

------------------

Icy cold ocean water enveloped Ranma, and he felt the sublime shock of remaining in his male form. He smiled, opening his eyes a crack. The ocean had stretched out, so inviting and pure and cold, the perfect way to make Mousse a tiny little duck whose best ability was throwing knives. He broke the surface, and grinned as he looked around him. Mousse was going to pay for what he'd done, and it was going to be sweet, and easy.

Something sharp and small, like hooves, hit his head. He reeled for a moment, then turned, ready to face Mousse the duck on land or water. For a moment, he just stared in shock at what greeted him. It was incredible. His mind failed to grasp that this creature could be Mousse. . . it couldn't be. Where had this come from? Where did the duck go?

A giant lion's paw crashed into the side of his face, and he awoke from his shock. He glared at the creature, and prepared to fight. No matter what it was, it couldn't beat him! They stared at each other, and the lion's head loomed near his. . . then the last thing he'd expected to happen, happened.

Flames shot out of the lion's mouth.

Fire, fire, his upper body was engulfed in flames. . . tiny pinpricks of heat that turned into infernos and daggers racing across his flesh. He screamed, and the flames scorched even the inside of his mouth. . . humans aren't supposed to be this flammable. . .

As he screamed, he felt a hard slap across his back and legs. Scales ripped at his flesh, scales on a huge reptilian tail that was slinging him out of the water, dousing the flames in the splashes it caused as it flung him onto the black rocks. A rock bit into the seemingly soft protection of his skull, and he knew no more.

--------------------

"RANMAAAA!" Akane screamed. She could hear Miraku running behind her, as eager as she to see this fight. Well, not as eager as she. She watched the two men emerge from the water. . . except, now it was one man. One man and a . . . a. . . creature.

Mousse arose out of the waters slowly, as if building dramatic effect. First, the water crested around a lion's head. She could see them both so much more clearly now! Ranma was facing her, looking around for Mousse. She stopped on the sand and fell to her knees, her heart pounding too hard in her throat for her to speak, much less shout. The lion emerged from the water behind Ranma, tawny, upright like a human being. Its paws hung down loosely by its sides. And, as the lion's torso gave way to its lower body, a truly shocking transformation occurred. The tawny fur disappeared in a shield of black scales, shiny, hard, with tiny jagged white edges. The serpent tail was huge, she could see the end curling up out of the water twenty feet from Ranma and the monster.

"Ranma," she tried to shout, but it came out as a whisper. She kept trying to shout his name, over and over, as the blows were exchanged, as the fire engulfed him, as he was tossed to the shore. The word only ripped itself from her mouth as she saw him hit the rocks, and lie very still.

"RANNNMAA!" she cried, scrambling to her feet and running towards him again. She fell to her knees beside him, heedless of the scrapes the rocks carved in her skin. Breathing. She looked out to the ocean, to see if the creature was still there. He had turned from her, and began to walk away. She could see, out of the back of the lion, a goat's head and forefeet protruded, grotesquely. It was as if half a goat were growing out of Mousse's back. It would have made him so comical, if only she felt like laughing now.

"You stupid, arrogant, stupid, stupid, stupid . . ." Akane cursed, running a shaking hand over Ranma's face, needing to feel the breath hit her skin. His skin was rough, maybe from the burns. She picked him up gently, using that ox strength he always teased her about. She walked with him, slowly, back to the hotel. She met Miraku on the way back, and he tried to take Ranma from her. She jerked away from him.

They reached the hotel door, and it was thrown wide open for them. Akane looked at Miraku in shock. And old woman with white curls touht around her head was standing in the doorway, frowning at them all.

"Who's she?" Akane asked Miraku. He cleared his throat.

"My wife. But don't listen to a damn thing she says, she's a dirty witch," he said, with vehemence. The little old woman just glared at hem all.

"You shut up. Girl, bring him in here. My sister and I will tend to his wounds," the old woman instructed. Akane carried him through the door, down the hall, and into their room. She laid him down gently on the bed, only half-aware of the argument behind her.

"You brought that little FemiNazi into my hotel? What is wrong with you, a few potions addle your wits? I can't believe you. . ." Miraku began. An irritated female voice cut him off.

"Oh, just shut up before I turn you into a newt."

"You can't do that, all you can do is tell the future."

"Try me. I just got a new terrarium, and heaven knows you'll be more economical as a lizard."

"Oh, both of you. Quiet," said a new female voice. "Miraku, keep your wrinkled, useless bum out here in the hall."

Akane watched the two women, identical except for one had a braid and one had curls, enter her room with scowls on their faces. The new one, the one with the braid, was carrying a huge basket full of bandages and jars with oozy, creamy contents.

"Who are you people? How did you know he'd need help?" she asked, not in what could be called a civil tone of voice. She'd had a VERY rough day, her stomach felt like it was about to digest her spine, and Ranma was lying in front of her with blood pouring from his head. The one with curly hair snorted.

"Don't have to be a fortune-teller to know THAT one was bound to get himself hurt sooner or later. I take it you're the little woman he misplaced?" she said. Akane blinked at her in surprise. Miraku had called them witches, but the word fortune-teller brought Mio to her mind. She couldn't bring herself to be afraid of them, no matter what they knew. No matter what they could tell her.

"Ah. . . yes. You. . . know Ranma?" she asked, confused. The one with the braid laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, stepping closer to Ranma's prone form,

"Yes, child. He came to see us just a little while ago, to see if we could find you," she said, smiling. "Funny man, that one. I think you should know what he did to find you," she took a deep breath. "When I found out that you weren't married, that you had no oath between you, I told him I couldn't find you. He was upset, so I told him of a way to at least tell if you were alive and well. I told him, if he loved you and yearned to be with you, and you loved him and yearned to be with him, I could find a way to show him how you were, maybe even what you could see, and who you were with. I warned him that sometimes, when this method of locating a person is used, the person trying to find them dies of heart failure. He wanted to do it anyway," the woman with the braid smiled, and patted Akane's hand. "You two must have a very special relationship."

Akane stared at the woman blankly. ::Love and yearn for,:: her mind whispered to her. She blushed. Some of her resentment towards him for not looking in the very most obvious place began to fade. A warm rush flooded her chest, and she wondered. . . just what was that? She didn't have very much time to puzzle over that question, because the woman with the braid pressed on.

"And because of that special relationship, you are going to go out in the hallway and trust us to take care of him. He's worth it to you, isn't he?" she asked, still smiling gently. Akane blinked at her. Even starved, angry, and worried out of her mind, that logic made no sense.

"Like hell I am," she said, glaring. The curly haired woman pushed her down to sit on the floor forcibly. Akane began to stand again, but was stopped by a firm hand pushing on the top of her head.

"Fine, stay. But if you speak or move, you break our concentration. You break our concentration, and he might die. You fine with that?" Miraku's wife said roughly. Akane gulped. Tears, silent and cold, began to run down her cheeks. When the old woman let go of her head, she moved to stand in the corner. She couldn't leave him alone with strangers. . . but she couldn't risk distracting them. There was just one more question nagging at her mind. . .

"Shouldn't we get him to a hospital?" she asked.

"Wouldn't make it, more than likely. He's got a terrible head wound," the braided woman muttered. "Now shush."

Akane watched in silence as they took off his shirt and washed the salt water from the burns with the contents of one of their jars. ::Thought salt water cleansed wounds:: she thought dully, but she didn't say anything. Having done that, the old women proceeded to ignore his burns and focus on his head wound. Akane noticed for the first time that most of his hair had been burnt off. It hung around his face in tattered strings, the ends ragged. It was far too short to go in a pigtail. ::At least he still has some, the idiot should be grateful. Why wouldn't he listen about Mousse?:: she thought, carefully avoiding the thought that these two strangers were poking around in his skull. After a few moments, the braided woman sighed with relief and smiled at Miraku's wife.

"Only cracked," she grinned. Akane felt a surge of hope. Ranma could survive that, no problem. She was almost surprised at a little thing like a fractured skull had knocked him out, she'd thought he'd at least had a gaping hole. The two old women put a compress over the wound, bandaged him up, and put some creamy, smelly stuff all over his burns. When it seemed there was no more they could do for him, they turned to Akane.

"Well, then. Introductions," Miraku's wife grinned. Akane blinked at her. NOW they were going to introduce themselves? "I'm Kariko, and this is my sister Kaya. We live about a mile up the coast, now that Miraku and I don't get along." She gave Akane an encouraging smile.

"I'm Akane Tendo," she said softly. Both the old women stared at her in shock. She squirmed a bit under their wide-eyed stares. "What?"

"I THOUGHT she looked like that loafer!" Kaya cried, her shocked face breaking out into a happy, if confused, smile. Kariko was nodding sagely.

"Yes, yes. I ought to have known. Too bad she doesn't take more after Kimiko, isn't it?" she nodded. Akane blinked at them in confusion.

"Kimiko?" she asked. Her mother? Had these two old women known her mother?

"Yes, aren't you the daughter of Kimiko and that good-for-nothing Soun?" Kaya asked. Akane nodded, hesitantly. She yelped in surprise as Kariko jumped forward and hugged her fiercely.

"I haven't seen you since you were in potty training!" she cried, stepping back and looking at Akane. "You're all grown up! Oh, your mother would be so proud of you!"

"WHAT are you TALKING ABOUT?" Akane shouted at last, reaching the last line of her patience. The two old women just grinned at her.

"Kimiko was our baby sister," Kaya explained. "Broke our hearts when she died. The worst part was when your father got drunk with Miraku, and that old goat convinced him that we would corrupt you girls. So he never let us visit," she explained. She frowned at the stricken look on Akane's face. "What, you didn't know you had aunts?"

"I remember hearing about aunts, maybe. . ." she said, uncertainly. "But you two are so much older than my mother! How could you be sisters?"

"Well, half sisters really," Kaya said. "Our father was a horny old goat of a man, and in his old age he took a young wife. Our mother died giving birth to little Kariko here. They had your mother when Kariko and I were already grown, just a few years before she married that good-for- nothing Miraku."

"But. . . why didn't Miraku say something about me being his niece?" she asked. "And how did Mom get to Tokyo to meet dad if she lived all the way out here? And how come Nabiki. . . oh, Nabiki must have known, that's why she sent us to this hotel! Why not tell me, if she knew?" Akane rambled, her brows inching closer and closer together as she talked.

"Oh, hush child. Your sister Nabiki has been shrewd since she was born, she probably asked Miraku not to mention it so you wouldn't mention it to your father. I doubt that little idiot Soun even remembers which hotel Miraku owns, so I doubt he knows you've a chance to meet us. Last I checked, he's still horribly afraid one of you girls will meet us and be enchanted or some such nonsense," Kariko snorted. "As for telling you about us, maybe she just assumed you knew you had aunts. After all, she's only a year older and she remembers us." Akane hung her head, abashed. After all, how could she forget something like a close relative. . . The old woman continued, "As for little Kimiko getting to Tokyo, she hated it here. You see, both Kaya and I have magic abilities. I can see the future, and she can find what is lost. Kimiko didn't have any of that, so it was always really frustrating for her as a child. Father was so hard on her, and her mother made her do much more of the housework than she should have, because the little wench was so afraid of us. . ."

"Maybe she would have been less afraid of us if you hadn't muttered in German every time she came near you. Remember that time you threw a lizard on her and told her it was going to eat her soul?" Kaya reminded her. Kariko laughed, then cleared her throat and tried to pretend she hadn't found the memory funny.

"Yes, well, I suppose we had something to do with Kimiko's treatment. We did try to shove off our work on her. But I was only living at home after Miraku and I split, you were there the whole time. In any case, as soon as she finished high school she left to find work in Tokyo. She found work, all right, and a few years later she found your father. Never liked the man."

"Me either," Kaya interceded. Kariko glared at her.

"Well, you don't like anything that doesn't have breasts and bleed five days out of the month, I'm not sure your opinion counts," Kariko said acidly.

"That's not true, you stopped bleeding years ago and I still like you . . ."

"ANYWAY," Kariko said firmly, "Your mother had you and your sisters, then when she died, Miraku and your father got drunk after the funeral. That's when they decided you girls should never see us again. Our father died of old age soon after, and his second wife follwed him into the grave. Most people say she died of grief," Kariko said sadly. Kaya snorted.

"Those of us who are not so generous say she died of a broken neck after she fell off the roof in a drunken stupor," she said harshly. She turned her gaze to Akane and the young woman gulped. "So how is it that Kimiko's daughter ended up in a hotel room with a man who is not her husband?" her eyes narrowed, "Don't tell me that's the Saotome boy?"

"Ah. . ." Akane stammered. "Well, it's a long. . . let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. He is the Saotome boy, as a matter of fact, and his name is Ranma. He fell into one of the cursed springs at Jusenkyo, and so he turned into a girl whenever he was hit with cold water. But recently he got the curse reversed, so now he only turns into a girl with hot water. Anyway, due to his idiot of a father and a few circumstances that were sort of his own fault, it seemed that every female in the world wanted to marry him. We were both very, very sick of it. Ummmmmm. . . he's a very strong martial artist, by the way. Umm. . . we almost got married a few weeks ago, but all his potential fiancés and all the guys who wanted to marry those potential fiancés decided to show up and try to kill us. So. . . no wedding. And we were getting really sick of our fathers pressuring us to get married, he suggested we go on a training mission so we could get some time alone. . . I said no, everybody will think we eloped, and then I heard our fathers talking about how a marriage between us would be all his decision and not mine. So I decided we should pretend to elope, and then everyone would get off our backs. . . it sort of backfired. I mean, a lot more people are leaving us alone, but our dads sent us on this honeymoon thing when we refused to sleep in the same bed and when I couldn't look at him when he was naked. . ."

"Hold on. THAT's summing up?" Kaya asked. Akane nodded.

"Believe me when I tell you that's the short version."

"What about your potential beaux? Were there no men chasing after you?" Kariko asked, looking her niece up and down. "You're quite pretty."

"Ah, thanks. Yeah, there were some, but none of them were as blatant and shameless as the girls chasing Ranma," Akane answered, fuming a bit as she thought of all those glomping girls. . . but he was hers now, and they couldn't have him. Even if they weren't really married, it was her he'd decided to pretend with. . .

"Well, it's obvious how much you care for each other," Kaya said grudgingly. Akane looked up at her ancient aunt, her face burning.

"Wh-what do you mean, obvious?" she asked, somewhat defensive. Both old women rolled their eyes.

"You remember what I told you about how he found you? How it wouldn't work unless you both loved each other, yearned to be with each other?" she asked. Akane blushed furiously. Kaya continued briskly, "Of course, that's no excuse to behave like a married couple when you really aren't. I trust you have not engaged in any improper behavior?"

"No!" Akane cried. Kariko eyed the handcuffs by the bed suspiciously, and looked pointedly at the open bag of sex toys. Kaya raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Nabiki sent those with us, they've all been trying to get us to . . to. . ."

"Shameless," Kariko sighed, looking at her sister. They stared at each other for a moment, then nodded in unison.

"We shall go bully Miraku into keeping his mouth shut. No doubt he's been eavesdropping," Kaya announced. They heard a scuffling in the hallway, and all three women sighed. "And we will not tell your family you're not really married. But keep in mind that you're dealing with witches here. You may engage in innocent behavior, you may kiss and even sleep in the same bed—provided you truly sleep—to further your ruse. But we will not allow the ruin of one of Kimiko's daughters. If any improper behavior goes on, any at all, Kariko shall know of it and we will not only tell your family of the false elopement, we will put a powerful curse on you both," she pointed her finger at Akane's belly, "All children born of you, conceived out of wedlock, shall be born with the tails of pigs!"

::Bet Ranma would think they were Ryouga's:: Akane thought, and she couldn't help laughing. Her aunts looked at her in surprise.

"I thought that was a pretty foul curse," Kaya said, lowering her hand. Kariko shrugged and winked at Akane.

"I think it's a good reason to wait till you really are married, don't you? You wouldn't want him to think you'd cheated on him with a pig," she said. The thought mirrored Akane's so closely that she wanted to laugh again, but she suppressed it.

"Of course not. We'll wait," she promised gravely. ::I don't think they really needed to establish that, we can barely get up the nerve to kiss each other,:: she thought. But their secret was safe, she had aunts who seemed wise and kind, and Ranma was going to be just fine.

---------------------------

Akane put down the book her aunts had left with her, sighing. It was a translated novel, written originally in English, and she found it rather hard to muddle through. The story was good enough, but there was a lot she didn't understand. The translator had left no cultural notes.

The book wasn't all they left behind. They'd brought up food for her, and for Ranma whenever he woke up. They'd also left an assortment of jars with contents of various color and viscosity, and some rather strict instructions. She was to stay awake until Ranma awoke, make him eat the broth they'd brought, hot or cold, and make sure he didn't go back to sleep for the next three hours. After that, he had to wake up every hour, on the hour, and stay conscious for fifteen minutes. She was very, very grateful for the coffee, and for the stack of reading material, but sleep was still tugging at her eyes. She stood and went to the window.

The moon was out of sight now, probably on the other side of the building. She could hear the crashing of the waves on the rocks, trying to lull her to sleep. Well, it wasn't going to work. ::Do your worst, you bloody soothing ocean," she thought, glaring out at it.

"What're you glaring at?" a voice asked groggily. She turned to it, and was shocked to see Ranma staring up at her. Well, peeking really. Only one of his eyes was open, and it was squinting. She knelt down next to him.

"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up," she said softly. He grimaced as both eyes opened.

"Me too. Does it have to be so bright in here?" he asked.

"There's only the one light, sorry," she said. All of a sudden, both his eyes flew wide and he tried to sit up. He thought better of it halfway there, and lay back down.

"Where's Mousse? We didn't finish our fight," he said. She sighed.

"Well, actually you did," she told him, gently. She explained to him all Mousse had told her over the day, about his new curse and his promise to Shampoo. When she was finished, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes again.

"Ranma! You can't go to sleep yet!" she said frantically. He groaned and opened his eyes again. She forced him to drink the cold broth, which woke him up considerably, and fed him a rice ball with chopsticks as she told him about her aunts. She left out the part about how he'd found her, he didn't really need to know she knew about that. Yet. After the rice ball was finished, he looked at her speculatively for a moment.

"I guess you ought to know how I found you," he said, sighing. She was about to interrupt, tell him she already knew, but something stopped her. She wanted to know what he would say about it, if he would tell her the truth. "The old witch Kaya helped me, she said I could find you if we both wanted to be with each other," he paused, then turned away. "I had to find you, Akane, I was willing to try anything. When I saw your scarf on the rocks . . .I thought you'd drowned. I spent most of the day in the water, looking for your body, and when I couldn't even find that. . .I felt like I'd died too. I thought I lost you once before, back in Saffron's lair. And twice. . . twice was too much," his voice grew very soft, and he looked back at her, his eyes narrow, glaring. "If there is a third time, if you let me think you're gone a third time, I might just die of a heart failure right then and there. And I'll come back to haunt you, do you understand?" he threatened. Akane glared at him for a moment. How dare he, did he think she LIKED being kidnapped, or dehydrated down into a doll, or half-murdered. . . then what he'd really said sunk in, and she stopped glaring. She kissed him lightly on the nose, coming away with some of the burn salve on her lips.

"Love you too, baka," she said softly. He blinked at her, then blushed.

"You wh-what?" he stammered, a deep crimson spreading over his face, down his neck, all the way across his bared chest. Akane watched the blood flowing to the surface with amusement.

"My aunts said I have to reapply that salve every few hours. You're just about due, don't you think?" she said, rising to her feet and turning to hide her face from him. She shouldn't have said that. It had just sort of slipped out, that's all she'd been thinking of while she waited for him to wake up. Of course, he'd already said he didn't know what love was, so she didn't expect a confession from him. . . but she definitely hadn't planned on confessing herself. She busied herself with the jars, and only turned back to him when she had her face under careful control. She pulled out a dollop of the creamy, greenish salve and began to spread it on his shoulder. He was looking up at her with an intensity that was almost frightening.

He let her spread the smelly cream all over his chest and arms, and turned obediently so she could spread it on the few burnt parts of his back. She wiped her hands on her pants absently, and ran a hand along the tips of his hair.

"It'll have to be trimmed, you know. You're lucky you have any at all," she said, briskly. Ranma turned back over and began regarding her with that intensity again. She swallowed nervously, and turned away to tidy up the jars again.

"Did you mean that, Akane?" he asked, softly. She laughed a bit, nervously.

"Yes, of course I meant it. Your hair has been badly burned, and it'll have to be trimmed down," she said, feigning ignorance. She felt a hand on her arm, warm and insistent.

"Not about that," he said softly. She finally got the nerve to look down at him. She could feel herself falling into those blue eyes, drowning as if she were falling into that crashing ocean. . . she shook her head to clear it, and his face fell.

"Ah," he said, harshly, and turned away. She blinked at him in surprise, until she realized what he'd taken her shaking head to mean.

"Ranma, I. . ." she began, but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you go ahead and go to sleep. Someplace else," he said, abruptly. She stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do.

"Ranma. . ."

"Just go away!" he cried, and she heard the beginnings of tears in his voice. She reached out to touch his shoulder, and it turned stiff and tense under her hand.

"Ranma, please, stop being such a child and listen," she said, lapsing into a patronizing tone out of habit. He turned back to face her, as angry as she had ever seen him.

"Would you just go away and leave me alone?" he shouted. She tightened her lips to keep them from trembling at his outburst.

"Someone has to wake you up every hour," she said softly. He glowered at her.

"Not if I don't go to sleep at all," he said grumpily. "Go find another room, I'm tired of sharing this one with a stupid, ugly tomboy!" he snarled. She glared down at him for a moment, as if she were going to retort, then the ran out of the room in tears. With a snort, Ranma turned to the window.

::Who does she think she is, teasing me like that? After what the old witch said, I thought maybe Akane might. . . but of course not. She thinks I'm a stupid pervert, why would she fall in love with me? I mean, not that I really expected her to. . . or maybe I did, or maybe because she kissed me. . . that stupid, violent tease! How dare she lead me on like that, when she had no feelings for me? She's the only one I ever wanted, the only one I ever. . . How could she trick me, I thought at least that we were friends. . . .::

------------------

Over the next two days, Ranma's gradual improvement was marked by his gradual increase in grumpiness. By the first morning, he was well enough to curse at anything and everything in sight. By that night, he was well enough to throw a bowl of broth at Miraku's head before lapsing into unconsciousness, and he was well enough to throw insults at whoever was waking him up every hour. By the second morning, he was well enough to throw pillows at the door whenever it opened. And by the next night, he was well enough to shatter his glass of water in his hand, which left quite a few scratches, and made him even more irritable. Fortunately, the burns had all been 1st degree, and were healing nicely. By the time he shattered the glass, most of his skin was healed.

Late that night, Akane came into his room. Their room, really, but she'd been using the room next door since he'd. . . since he'd kicked her out. She'd thought at first that he was just angry, but there was a coldness to him now, a gap between them that had never existed before. Even when they first met, even when they'd hated each other, she hadn't felt this distance between them. It was enough to make her cry, frequently. Actually, more or less constantly. And now, looking at his newly healed skin, she felt the tears starting up again. She knelt my his bed, and cried into her hands.

"What did I say?" she sobbed, letting the words flow as easily as the tears. They were alone, she was the only one awake in the house, and so now she could cry openly and say whatever she wanted. "Why do you hate me so much?" she sobbed. She didn't realize he was listening until he spoke.

"You were leading me on," he said, coldly. She looked up in surprise to see him watching her. A look of surprise crossed his face as well, perhaps at the tears.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to wipe her eyes. She didn't want anyone to see her like that.

"You made me think you cared for me, but then you said it was all a joke," he accused her. She shook her head in confusion. He glared at her. "Remember? You said you loved me, and when I asked if you were serious you shook your head," he said. She bent her head, and he could see the tears falling to her lap.

"You thought I. . . but I wasn't leading you on. You thought that I . . . and that's why you hate me now," she said, bitterly. He watched the tears falling faster and faster, and something inside him softened. He joined her on the floor and gathered her into his arms.

"I could never hate you, Akane. Stop crying already," he said softly, which only made her cry harder. He winced as the salty tears hit the few places on his chest that hadn't quite healed. He rocked her back and forth as she sobbed into his chest, his mind racing. ::If she's this upset, she has to care a little. Akane hardly ever cries for anyone but me, after all.:: The thought sort of startled him, and he looked down at the girl in his arms. Had he been wrong?

"Akane, were you leading me on?" he asked softly. She cried harder, and he cringed.

"Baka! Stupid, stupid, stupid. . . ." she muttered. She drew away and glared up at him.

"How could I have been leading you on? When did I ever promise you anything, or tell you I loved you or even liked you?" she asked, furiously. He felt his intestines twist themselves into a knot, and his blood ran hotter. So. She may not have led him on, in her mind, but she still didn't care for him.

"You did kiss me," he said coldly. She glowered at him.

"And you kissed me back! Quite passionately, I might add. So where do you get off with such an accusation? You know what Aunt Kaya said. Leading you on my foot!" she snarled. He blinked at her. Kaya?

"What about what who said?" he asked, confused now.

"Aunt Kaya, the old woman who helped you find me? She said the method she used only works if the two people . . ." Akane trailed off, and looked away. Ranma thought about that for a moment. That was true, and Kaya's method had worked surprisingly well. . . a fact the old witch had taken to mean that they cared for each other quite a bit. Loved each other, even. And when he'd thought he'd lost her, for the second time, one of the thoughts that kept going through his mind was; I never said the words to her, I was too much of a coward, I was too indecisive, and now I'll never know what she'd say if I said I loved her. . . Ranma took a deep breath. ::Here goes nothing,:: he thought to himself.

"Akane, I love you. I love you so much that whenever I spend a few days without you, on a training trip or something, I begin to see you around every corner, in every tree, in every waterfall. Every time I see a girl with short dark hair, my heart skips a little and I come so close to thinking its you sometimes I almost go up and talk to her. I didn't even realize what it was until recently, when I thought I'd lost you yet again, and it was too much to handle. I just kept thinking of a lifetime full of days in which I couldn't see your face, hear your voice, and the thought alone was almost more than I could bear. Back in Saffron's cave, until I knew there was hope for you, I was ready to let Saffron finish me. Now that I think about it, I've felt this way for a while, but I wasn't sure what it was. Now I think it has to be love, because if this isn't I'll never be capable of feeling anything stronger, of feeling love. So. . . tell me, Akane. Tell me the truth, whatever it is," he said, not daring to look up at her, hardly daring to breath. He hoped to never, ever again need as much courage as those words took. He felt as though he were made of dry sand, at the slightest wind he was going to crumble, break into a million pieces and never be the same again.

"Ranma. . ." she said, her voice full of astonishment. "I . .I. . ." he could feel himself beginning to shatter, just the beginnings, before she continued. "I was looking through my mother's memory box," she said at last, and he finally looked at her, simply out of shock. Now it was her turn to avoid his gaze. "And I came across something about the arranged marriage. It made me think about who I would have chosen to love, given the choice, and I. . . well, I guess it isn't ever really a choice, is it? Our hearts decide for us. I mean, you and I have been doing everything together for so long now. . . and you were never trying to get in my pants, or claim me as some prize, and I never quite realized why I got so jealous. . . I didn't understand it until after we'd come here, when I was looking through that memory box, but I. . . I guess it was sort of a gradual thing, and I . . .well, I love you too, Ranma. That's the truth," she finished, rambling and not entirely eloquent. They sat in silence for a time, listening to the ocean beat on the rocks. Ranma felt as though he'd been released from chains he'd felt as heavy as boulders. They'd sort of mentioned those kinds of things before, but it wasn't the same as saying them explicitly. He could feel his face burning.

"Akane. . ." he said softly. She looked up at him. Hesitantly, slowly, he lowered his face to hers, and gently brushed her lips with his own. He began to back away, but she pulled him closer, and he felt that shock go through him, just like before. Somehow, his hand was in the thick of that dark blue hair and her hands were running down his spine. . . he felt like he could lose himself in this, just stay here forever like one of those fairy-tale knights seduced by a merciless fey woman. . . Well, not quite.

He made a small, muffled painful sound as her hair caught in one of the cuts on his hand. She drew back, and gasped when she realized he was bleeding. She began to scold him, but he cut her off.

"Honestly, do you think so little of me? Let it go, it's only a scratch," he said, grandly. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he gulped.

"Well, I'd thought you lost some of your resolve to be tough, since you actually stayed in bed for two days just for a concussion," she pointed out. He shrugged.

"That was more moping, really. I'm fine," he protested. It was the truth, as far as that went, though he had liked milking an injury for a change. Usually his dad made him get up immediately, the minute he stopped bleeding. He and Akane stared at each other for a moment, the silence only broken by her yawning. He smiled.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Crying takes a lot out of a person," she admitted. She blushed, and lowered her face, looking up at him through her lashes.

"Do you still . . . do you still not want me in here?" she asked. He blinked at her for a moment.

"Naw, you can sleep in here. But you'll have to share the bed with me," he warned. He didn't want to make her sleep on the floor, but then he had no desire to sleep on the cold, hard surface either. She thought about that for a minute, then shrugged.

"Deal. But no funny business," she admonished sternly. He did his best to look innocent, and she climbed up onto the bed. He followed her. They lay and talked for a while, and when she drifted off to sleep, he sat up to watch her. She was quite a show, tossing and turning, and talking. Most of what she said didn't make sense, and several times he had to block a blow that was coming in his direction. But after what seemed like an eternity, she settled down. She curled into a ball, edging closer and closer to him. He supposed it was because he was a human furnace, he always put out a lot of body heat, and lay down at last. As he was drifting off himself, he felt her edge closer.

"Ranma," she said softly, and he opened his eyes. Still asleep, but smiling, she curled up inches away from his skin. He touched her arm lightly, and she rolled, so she was facing him. He watched her for a moment, wondering if she was dreaming of him.

"I think the baby looks just like you, Ranma. So what if it has a tail?" she murmured. THAT woke him up.

"What the HELL are you dreaming about?" he muttered.

-------------------

I would like to share with you the story my eight year old sister told me tonight before I tucked her in. Word for word.

"Ok, so P-chan gets stuck in a girl's body, and him and Ranma get married. And they kiss, and then P-chan gets wet, and Ranma's like, oh you're P- chan, and he spits and gets some mouthwash. Then he goes home and goes to sleep."

That is all. I should never, ever have shown her that anime. At least I don't show her the nekkid parts. elaborate sigh


	9. That's all, Folks

Dislcaimer: I don't own these characters, yada yada yada.

Chapter 9

"Ranma!" a sweet voice called. He paused, mid-kick, to turn and look at the door of the dojo. Akane walked in through the open sliding doors, slowly to accommodate the pace of the child holding her hand. The little girl looked just like Akane, the same short, dark blue hair, the same brown eyes. She toddled into the dojo on tiny, pudgy legs, a smile on her face as she spotted her father. Ranma didn't think he'd ever seen anything so beautiful.

"Hello, darling," he smiled, striding over and kissing Akane gently. He pulled away, and she smiled up at him, not heartbreakingly beautiful but instead glowing with the light a kind soul carries, pretty, familiar, and his. He could feel a comforting rush of warmth flowing through his body at that smile, and he kissed her again.

"Daaaaddyyyyyy! UP!" the toddler commanded. With a smile, he bent to pick her up. Akane rapped him sharply on the back of the head, and he stood, glaring at his wife.

"What was that for?" he asked. Akane sighed and gestured toward their daughter, who was pulling at her pants chanting, "up, up, up."

"She can't be held all the time, you know. You shouldn't give in every time she asks you to pick her up. If it were up to you, the child wouldn't know how to walk yet. She'd never get an opportunity to practice," she said, shaking her head. He looked specualtively down at the chubby legs.

"I suppose," he said slowly. "But she does take after you mostly, doesn't she? I mean, look at those legs," he said. She narrowed her eyes. He took a step back, waving his hands in front of him to indicate he hadn't meant it. "I mean, she's strong as an ox, she'd have to be able to walk with that kind of brute strength, and if she's inherited any of my balance at all. . ."

Akane threw a metal pot at him, and he dodged. She glared at him for a moment, but then took a deep breath and rolled her eyes.

"I came to ask you to watch Yuka while I make dinner," she said, detaching the tiny, chubby hands from her pants. Ranma grimaced, then hid it quickly with what he hoped was a charming smile.

"Oh, sweetheart, you know you're much better with Yuka than I am, Tell you what, I'll cook dinner and you can watch her," he offered, putting an arm around her shoulders to lead her out of the dojo. She fixed him with a gimlet eye, and he released her.

"I've had tiny hands pulling at my pants all day. It's your turn now," she said firmly. With that, she strode out of the dojo, leaving him with Yuka.

He sighed, and picked the child up despite Akane's admonition. He tickled her under her chin, and was rewarded by a gurgling giggle.

"You're going to be a heartbreaker, just like your mom," he observed. "I just hope you can cook better." He looked up at a scream from the kitchen, but wasn't much disturbed by it. Akane always screamed at the food she was cooking. Ranma thought she viewed it as just another martial art.

The second scream almost made his heart stop, he recognized that scream. That was a battle cry, and it wasn't Akane's. He ran towards the kitchen, clutching Yuka to him tightly, as insane laughter filled the air.

He burst into the kitchen to see Akane facing down Shampoo and Kodachi, both of whom had glowing green eyes. She was snarling at them, a low, dark growl as blood seeped out of a cut on her cheek. The kitchen wall was blasted in, he assumed some of the rubble had caught her.

"Akane!" he cried. She didn't look at him, but accepted Yuka, who was cowering because of the loud noises, and let him step in front of her. Kodachi and Shampoo advanced on him, chuckling softly.

"You no can beat us, Ranma. Cannot save pervert girl and ugly baby," Shampoo said, her voice pitched low. Ranma glared at her as he fell into a fighting stance and Kodachi's ribbon lashed out at him. He cought it on his arm, and pulled it out of her grasp as Shampoo advanced on him with her bori boris. He dodged them, and struck back at Shampoo, kicking her in the stomach. He didn't like to hit girls, but if they threatened his family. . . he heard a blood-curdling scream and turned, his own blood turning to ice in his veins. Akane and Yuka were lying on the ground, still and pale, and standing over them was the monster Mousse had become. . .

Ranma woke from the dream in a cold sweat. He tried to sit up, but there was something heavy on his chest. He opened his eyes and was shocked to see that the something heavy was Akane's head and shoulders. She was using his chest for a pillow, her arm laid casually across him, the rest of her body tucked in close to leech away some of his warmth. He blushed, remembering how they'd come to be in the same bed, and became uncomfortably aware of the soft movements her breasts made against him when she breathed. His chest was still bare, and he could feel her warm, moist breath racing across his skin. He didn't try to rise into a sitting position again, and became embarassingly aware that certain parts of him had already risen to the occasion.

::What kind of guy wakes up from seeing his wife and kid dead in front of him, and then immeadiately starts thinking about. . . you know what, girls got it easy. You can't tell just by glancing at them that they're happy to see you,:: he thought, torn between pushing her off, laughing, and just lying there wondering how her skin would feel. . .

He remembered Happosai telling him about this sort of thing once, not that he'd been paying a great deal of attention. Happosai had told him that a cold shower and thoughts about baseball might calm him down. Well, to get a cold shower he'd have to move her, maybe even wake her up. He didn't want her to see him like this. He tried to run his thoughts to baseball, but he kept thinking about Akane playing softball in those skimpy little gym shorts. . . THAT certainly wasn't working. He turned his thoughts instead to the dream he'd been having, and that worked right away.

He realized with a minor jolt that he was still thinking of Akane as his wife. They were pretending to be married, but that didn't mean he had to think of her that way. Of course, that consideration took a definate secondary position to the idea of her dead. He couldn't bear that again, he hadn't been kidding when he'd said he would probably die on the spot. ::I ain't ever gonna leave her alone again, not for five minutes,:: he told himself, then realized just how ridiculous that was. He couldn't possibly be with her every moment, and to try would make slaves out of them both, restricting their actions. ::I'll train her, then, better than her father trained her. I'll train her like a guy, I'll train her to be almost as good as me. I'll train her to harness that temper of hers so she can learn to mallet other people,:: he thought. He nodded to himself. That would work. It would take time, and it would be frustrating, but it would work.

But what about the future? What about when they got older and told their parents the marriage was a hoax? He frowned at the thought. Then he'd have to let her go, he supposed, stop being with her so much as they tried to find their own paths, free of the constraint of their parents. . . that was the idea, wasn't it? They were pretending to be married so they could pursue their own choices, weren't they? But he didn't want to let her go, and he didn't want to stop being around her so much. He couldn't imagine living in a different house than her now, anymore than he could imagine living in a house for a long period of time before he'd met her. And he sure as hell couldn't stand a world in which he'd have to sit by again and watch all those other guys follow her around like lost puppies. . . No.

There was only one thing for it, then. They wouldn't tell their parets it was a hoax. They would just, very quietly, get married for real at some point. And then ask for a small ceremony so their family could be present at a sort of wedding. He held the image of Yuka in his mind, and smiled. Yeah, he could be happy in that sort of life. He sure as hell couldn't be happy without her.

Ranma Saotome might be indecisive, confused, and just plain clueless at times, but once he's made up his mind to do something, he simply does it. No hesitation. No further questions. This time, though, he had to wait. There was another person involved in this decision, and she was still asleep.

But what about the threats to her? He could handle the other fiances, most of them had given up anyway. But what about all the peripheral crazies they'd picked up over the years? What about Mousse, who still had to pay for what he'd done?

Mousse. Mousse who had beaten him. Mousse who had succeeded where even Saffron failed.

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Akane stretched and smiled, waking up warm and happy. She felt like the world was spinning in the right direction for once, instead of backwards, trying to thwart all her plans. She couldn't remember ever waking up happier. The sun was warm on her face, the waves were crashing against the rocks soothingly. She opened her eyes to see Ranma watching her, standing over the bed, fully dressed. She sat up with a smile, curling her knees into her chest. He wasn't smiling.

"Good morning," she said sweetly. He just looked at her, a strange expression on his face. She frowned, wondering why he wasn't smiling at her. A dark fear pushed all the air out of her lungs. What if he'd changed his mind? What if he'd thought it over and was going to take back everything he'd said?

"Good morning, Akane," he said, and the way he said her name was strange. He spoke it softly. Like Ryouga used to, right before he'd run away in tears. The parallel disturbed her. But they weren't back in Nerima, where life always took it's turns for the worst. They were in a little room with chipped periwinkle paint and old scarred furniture, the room where Ranma had first admitted he loved her. The old rules didn't apply here, did they?

"What are you doing?" she said, a bit nervously. He took a deep breath.

"I didn't want to be gone when you woke up. I didn't want to leave without a goodbye," he said. Her heart sank. He was leaving her? "I've decided that, in order to keep you safe, I'm going to have to go after Mousse," he announced. Her eyes widened.

"You can't do that!" she gasped. He closed his eyes and turned away from her.

"When I get back, and I don't know when that will be. . ." he trailed off. He wanted to ask her, but he couldn't. It wasn't cowardice, it was a reluctance to speak of such things before he left her. They sat in silence for a moment. At long last, Akane drew a shuddering breath.

"You arrogant idiot," she snarled.He whirled to stare at her in surprise. Weren't they supposed to be past name-calling? He should have known they never would be. . .

"What?" he asked, his temper rising.

"This has nothing to do with my safety. You just want to keep your record of never having lost a fight! You can't stand it that Mousse beat you, admit it!" she cried. He blinked at her for a few moments. She knew him too well after all.

"You may be right, Akane, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm leaving," he insisted. She glared at him for a moment.

"So you're just going to say all those things to me and then run away?" she snapped. He glared back at her. Who said he was running away?

"I'm leaving," he said, abruptly moving away from her. He felt a hand on his arm, and turned to see her standing behind him, having slipped out from under the dark blue quilt he'd tucked around her. She looked like a mess, still in the clothes she'd worn the day before, her hair all mussed up. It was strange how she looked just the same that way, to him, as she did normally. He just saw her as Akane, no more and no less.

The parting words of Nodoka ran through Akane's head. ::Defeat him with passion,:: she thought. Well, she certainly couldn't hold him in the room with just her brute strength, now could she? She slid her arms around his waist, and settled her cheek against his chest. She felt him take a deep breath, and his hands fell lightly on her shoulders.

"Akane, I. . ." he began, but she cut him off.

"You are not leaving me to go chase some freak around China. He isn't worth it. You've beat Mousse a thousand times before, he just had the element of surprise that time. Let him go," she pleaded. She couldn't believe she was pleading for anything. But he couldn't leave right after saying all those things to her!

"This isn't the time for hugs," he said softly, pushing her away gently. She released him. He turned away from her, no goodbye kiss, no words of farewell, not even a promise to return soon. That idiotic bastard.

"What will you do if you return and no one knows where I am?" she asked, suddenly. "What if something happens to me while you're running around in China?" He stopped, but did not turn to look at her. "You said you couldn't bear it again, if you thought I was gone. Well, how can you go away to China knowing anything could be happening to me here?" she asked him. It was the last card she could play. She, truthfully, didn't think she was in any danger. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. On the other hand, she knew which buttons to push on Ranma to illicit the best response. She'd never asked anyone for protection before, she'd never admitted she might need it. She hoped to hell that she never would again.

But then, going home without Ranma, to face all those smirking faces alone, that would be even harder. To know he loved her, and she him, and they could be having a happy, relatively peaceful life but instead to have to put up with Kuno and Gosunkugi all over again. . . that would be degrading. More degrading, because to them she was just a prize.

"You're right," he said softly. He turned to glare at her. "You are going to have some serious training when we get back to Nerima," he said evenly. She gaped at him.

"You'll train me?" she asked. He wasn't arrogantly offering his protection! He was acknowledging her as a martial artist! She felt her heart beat faster, and she smiled at him. Maybe he wasn't so arrogant after all.

"Yeah," he said simply, then he looked at her for a long moment. At long last, he sighed, and walked back over to sit on the bed. He'd made a decision, and decisions were rare creations within his mind. Once made, he usually acted on them immeadiately. This one was no different. He just didn't know how to tell her, how to ask her. He HATED all this romantic crap. Couldn't they just go back to being forced into things? That was easier on him, really.

"And what about later, when we tell our parents the wedding was a hoax? Should I go away then?" he asked softly. She looked at him in surprise. She hadn't even thought about that, about what would happen when they told everyone it was a hoax. She supposed one of them would almost have to leave, they certainly couldn't go back to the way they were after sleeping in the same bed every night and having everyone assume. . .

"No, Ranma, I don't want you to go away. Ever," she said firmly. He smiled at that. She frowned, turning the problem over and over in her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she regretted the hoax wedding. There was no graceful way to come back from that, to say that was over. If they said it was a hoax, they would be humiliated, disgraced, and maybe the attacks would even start up again, worse than ever.

"Now that you mention it, I can't think of what we'll do after we say it's a hoax," she said, feeling the tiny tendrils of despair creeping into her heart. He stopped her from continuing by speaking himself.

"That's why we never tell them it's a hoax. We get married for real, at the courthouse, and then ask for a small ceremony after we graduate high school. . . I mean, if you want a wedding, I guess," he said lamely. He couldn't look at her. ::That was such a crappy way to propose, Saotome,:: sneered the little voice in his head. He told it, firmly, to shut up.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," she said, casually. His head snapped up and he stared at her. She hadn't actually just turned him down, had she? He glowered at her when he saw the playful smile on her face. Then she did to him what he'd done to her too many times to count.

"Don't tell me you thought I was serious?" she smirked, pulling the corners of her mouth out with her fingers and sticking out her tongue. This was where he told her how uncute she was. This was where he was supposed to roll his eyes and ignore her for a while.

He didn't. Instead, he did something he'd never been quite bold enough to do. He stood, pulled her to him while pushing her hands away from the corners of her lips, and kissed her. Not a timid brush of lips, but a real kiss, the kind she'd initiated before. He felt the shock go through him, a blue bolt of lightening. He drew away with a shuddering breath, and grinned at her.

"So you'll marry me?" he asked. She nodded slightly, as if confused, and he bent to kiss her again. This couldn't be her Ranma, could it? Ranma would never be so bold, would never let enough of himself slip to do something like this. . . . On the other hand, she'd waited a long time for him to get up the nerve to.

Akane leaned against Ranma, feeling his arms encircle her gently. He was always so afraid of hurting her. . . but she thought, at that moment, with their promises still hanging in the air, that it would be impossible for him to ever hurt her again. Love can conquer all, even the famous Saotome foot-in-mouth disease.

Right?

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That's all for now, folks. The rest of their story is told in "The Farthest Road," which is a contionuation of this story. I just knda felt this was a good stopping point, the first time around. Have a nice day!


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